My Pen Pal
by Shaps
Summary: AU, OOC, All Human. “Dear Bella, My name is Edward Masen. I’m a student at Port Angeles High.” Shopaholic Alice hates smart-ass Jasper, Jacob’s a jerk, Bella’s taken. Words both break and build relationships – so what will it be? BxE, AxJ
1. Crowd

**Hey everyone! This is it - this is the thing that's been taking up so much of my time. I won't waffle on for too long... but yeah. Please review!!**

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**Chapter One: Crowd**

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"Alice, seriously, this is stupid."

My protests were falling on deaf ears, obviously, because she was still wrenching me through the crowd of people towards the school notice board.

"Don't be such a sook Bella; this is going to be good!"

I just rolled my eyes. Since when did writing to someone you've never met before count in the "good" books?

She finally let go of my arm. There were little red marks where her fingers had been, and I rubbed them sorely with my good hand. I knew better than to make for a get away. Alice may have been small, but she was quicker than I'd ever be.

Alice knocked someone out of the way with a sharp jab of her elbow to clear her path. I stepped in to catch her wake before someone else got in the way. When we were finally in front of the notice board, she grabbed the pen that was swinging on a piece of string and started scribbling her name down.

She then turned and seized my wrist, pulling me forward a metre so I could write my own name down. I sighed, seeing that there weren't very many other names to compete with, and then signed messily on one of the lines.

**Forks - Port Angeles High School Pen Pal Program**

I was smacked in the shin by someone's foot then, and I looked around to see who it was. There were so many people that I was having difficulty turning at all. Why they all were crowded around the board, I couldn't tell. There were all of eight or so people on that pen pal list, including my own and Alice's; and it didn't seem very intriguing to me.

Suddenly, right in my ear, Alice squealed. She started bulldozing through people, using her sharp little elbows and quick little feet to move her competition out of the way.

I didn't realise she was moving so fast out of fury rather than excitement until I saw what the main part of the crowd had gathered around.

There, right on the far right side of the noticeboard near the corner of the room was a very large picture which had been badly photo-shopped. It was a rather obese woman sitting on a park bench with a bucket of chicken on her knee and one of the chicken wings half-raised to her mouth.

On the head of this bizarre image was the smiling face of little Alice Brandon, and underneath in bold, graffiti-style writing were the words 'BEFORE SURGERY?!'

Alice screamed with fury as she finally reached the humiliating poster. The crowd around her shrunk back; its jeering laughs falling silent in her presence. She reached up and swiftly ripped down the piece of paper, scattering adjoined notices and pins all over the floor around her.

She crumpled it up in her delicate hands, and then ditched it as hard as she could at the nearest bin, into which it neatly fell. Then she spun on her shiny stiletto heel to face the crowd, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

The crowd shrunk back further from her.

"Who was it?!" she snarled, eyeballing each of the unfortunate victims closest to her. It was perfectly silent for three seconds, before a drawling laugh came from the side wall.

Some people turned their heads to see where it had come from, but none were faster than Alice. Her head turned so quickly I was surprised she hadn't hurt her neck.

Then, emerging through the tightly packed crowd of people was someone who was often responsible for stupid acts such as this. Jasper Whitlock stepped forward into the empty band of space between Alice and the onlookers, a smug smile on his would-be handsome face.

"You." Alice said quietly, barely loud enough for me to hear, let alone Jasper.

Amazingly, Jasper wasn't scared of Alice, who was now shaking so badly that the hand I had on her shoulder to prevent her from attacking him was nearly being shaken off. Alice made to step towards him, but I tightened my grip and she seemed to gain some control.

Jasper laughed when he saw this, he thought that the lengthy muscles all over his body were enough to stop anyone from even touching him. I knew better; Alice had one hell of an aim with those stilettos when given the opportunity.

Jasper came closer, leaning against the space of now-blank wall which had previously housed the poster. He crossed his arms and looked Alice up and down, which made her even angrier. I was tempted to just let her get her heels into him.

"What's the matter?" he said, daring to provoke her further. "Didn't you like my artwork?"

Alice answered with a growl. Someone in the still-looming crowd coughed and Alice rounded on them all.

"Are you waiting for something?!' she screeched, taking out part of her anger on the unlucky audience. They immediately scattered, many falling over in the haste to escape.

Jasper laughed again. I dropped my hand from Alice's shoulder, knowing that whatever he got now was completely his fault; and that he deserved it.

She didn't growl or scream or advance on him in any way. She simply glared from her position one metre away from him, willing him to burn under her gaze.

"I'll have to make another one now, thanks a lot _Anna_, and don't you worry your pretty little head because I'll make sure you see it before anyone else." He stepped towards her, and put his face very close to hers. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides again, and the veins on her forearms were standing out against the caramel of her skin. "Don't forget to throw up your breakfast, _Anna_."

Jasper then straightened up, turned and walked away. I leapt forward and linked my arm around Alice's waist before she could leap onto his back and start pulling his hair out or something. She didn't move though, she just took a big breath and closed her eyes, controlling her expression.

When she turned to face me, she had tears prickling her lashes. I grabbed her hand and led her into the empty bathroom.

Neither of us said a word as she snapped open her handbag, pulled out some tissues and cleaned up her mascara. Alice spun around and hugged me around the middle for a long moment before she snapped her bag shut and composed herself in front of the mirror.

We left the bathroom and headed for the cafeteria doors, which was where our friends tended to congeal in the mornings.

On our way there, I decided to give Alice something else to think about.

"Alice?" I said tenderly, turning my face to hers as we walked.

She turned her head to me and smiled, but I could tell it was a forced smile. "Yeah?"

"So, why did you want me to sign up for this pen pal project?"

I knew this was a good opener for a lengthy explanation, and Alice didn't disappoint. She wasn't even into the finer details of her dastardly plans to enslave Port Angeles High before we'd rounded the corner and seen our friends chatting happily in front of the cafeteria.

There, leaning against the locked cafeteria doors, was Emmett Brandon, Alice's older brother. He was looking overly-muscly and taking up way too much room for a regular eighteen year old guy to be taking up, but he was smiling and laughing at some unheard joke so the laugh lines on his face took away the menacing edge.

He had his arm wound around a beautiful blonde's waist; her name was Rosalie. I didn't actually know her last name, she'd only begun to hang around with us when she and Emmett had started going out a few months back.

Standing with her back to us and gesturing wildly with her hands as she spoke was Angela Weber. Angela was really good friends with Alice and I, and it was common knowledge that the sweetest of honeys had nothing on her angelic personality.

Ben and Tyler Cheney were wrestling stupidly; they were twins and so were constantly trying to get one-up on each other. Alice and I laughed as we watched them overbalance and hit the floor, rolling around in the fight for victory.

Then, the last person in the group stepped forward from behind Emmett. Mike Newton's face lit up when he heard Alice and I, probably more-so because of me. I skipped forward and threw myself into a hug with him, happy to see my boyfriend on an overly-eventful Monday morning.

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**Review and let me know!!**

**-Shaps**


	2. Letters

**Heya... I'm not the most patient person, so here's Chapter two...**

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**Chapter Two: Letters**

I was sitting in biology on Wednesday afternoon, hitting a piece of paper across the table to Mike when a soft knock on the door caused me to look up and lose the point.

Mike was still whispering his cheers of victory when the secretary spoke to our teacher, Mr Banner, who then turned to stare straight at me while he whispered back. The secretary turned to leave, and Mr Banner motioned with a swipe of his hand for me to follow her out the door.

"Where're you going?" Mike asked when my chair scraped across the floor.

I shook my head. "Dunno."

When I got to the door, Mrs Cope was standing on the other side of the frame. I didn't have to ask what was going on, thankfully – I was never good at coming up with understandable sentences around people I wasn't familiar with.

"The letters from Port Angeles High have come through, and we're getting the students who signed up to collect theirs now."

"Oh. Okay." I followed her down the hall, and then she stopped outside one of the other science labs. A moment later, Alice joined me out in the hall. Following close behind her was Angela, then Jessica Stanley. The three of us walked together in silence, afraid of saying something socially incriminating with Jessica in earshot.

We picked up a few more people through the halls, and it wasn't long before twenty minutes had passed. Most of the pen pal applicants were girls, but there were a few boys too. I wasn't really good friends with any of them except Alice and Angela, so I wasn't obliged to speak to anyone else.

Finally, Mrs Cope showed us into a room behind the secretary's office which students weren't usually allowed into. All of us were interested to see what was behind the previously forbidden door until we'd actually passed through the frame and seen that it was just like the rest of the school.

The walls were a dull white wash, the carpet an industrial grey flecked with orange and the curtains were a boring white. There was a wooden table with countless scratch marks and scribbles from students dented into the surface. A couple of linoleum-covered cupboards lined the left wall. The most interesting part of the décor was the scorch mark on the curtain. I nudged Alice and pointed this out to her.

"Miss Faulkner stood too close when she was sneaking a cigarette last year," she said with a shrug.

"Oh." I looked at her quizzically. "How do you know that?"

She just shrugged again. I was about to question her further when Mrs Cope started talking, and I knew we'd be caught because we were so close to the front. Angela had slinked to the back of the small group to avoid blocking other people's view with her height. I turned and gave her a friendly smile, which she returned, then grimaced and rolled her eyes toward the front. I turned back and noticed Jessica Stanley standing a few people to my right.

Mrs Cope was now scuffling around in one of the cupboards. She pulled out a small stack of about twenty envelopes, which had been bound together by red string.

She plopped them on the table and smiled nicely at all of us, folding her hands behind her back.

"These are the letters from Port Angeles High," she began.

"Duh," came a bored voice from my right. I didn't have to look to know it was Jessica.

"And we were lucky enough to have enough students from Port Angeles interested in the program so you all get letters this year." Everyone looked bored, which Mrs Cope took as confused, so she continued, "last year not everyone received letters." She beamed around at us all like this was a real treat. "Each of the students from Port Angeles wrote a letter to a specific student whom they chose out of a hat. Each week on Wednesdays or Thursdays you should drop your letter into this box –" she revealed the small blue shoebox with a hole in the lid that she'd been holding behind her back, "- and then on Mondays you'll be able to collect your replies from Port Angeles from me at the front office."

Alice piped up from beside me. "Where will the box be?"

"On my desk in the front office," Mrs Cope said kindly. She stared at Alice for a second too long, so Alice gave her a mock enthusiastic thumbs-up gesture. "Oh, and this week I expect your replies to be in by tomorrow afternoon."

I had been giggling at Alice's hillbilly-style thumbs up, but managed to turn it into a cough when Mrs Cope looked for the source of the noise.

"So," Mrs Cope thundered on, seeming to enjoy the sound of her own voice. "If there are no more questions, you can all come up and collect your letters."

Alice jumped forward before anyone else and pulled the string from the bundle of letters. She stuck her hand into the stack three times in three random places, then skipped through the congealing crowd to where Angela and I were now standing together.

"What's she doing?" Angela asked as Alice doubled back.

"I have absolutely no idea," I replied honestly, scanning the heads for Alice's spiky black hair.

"There she is," Angela said suddenly, pointing way over to the right wall. Alice was hopping over people's feet and managing not to smack her head on the cupboards above her, holding three letters in one hand and a bundle of red string in the other.

"Are they ours?" I asked, pointing to the letters.

She held them out to us, name-up. "Yeah."

I took mine from Alice's hand and Angela hers. I looked at the elegant writing, sure that I'd be writing to a girl.

"How'd you know where they were, Alice?" Angela said, flipping her own letter around in her hands.

"Hmm?" Alice was preoccupied with the string, which I could now see was actually red ribbon.

I sighed. "Never mind Ange, she does too many weird things like that for me to really notice anymore."

"Fair enough." Angela started pulling at the corner of her envelope. "I'm gonna go somewhere to read this, okay? Tell Mrs Cope I went to the toilet or something if she asks." She smiled and waved at hip height as she swept out the door.

I turned back to Alice, who had managed to open her letter and was halfway through the – was that three or four pages? – of writing in her hands.

"Do you want to sit down Alice?"

She nodded without looking up from her pages. I walked to the wall and slid down, pulling my knees up so I could lean the pages on them. Alice say beside me with her legs crossed.

I looked again at the stylish writing on my envelope.

_**Bella Swan**_

I flipped it over a few times in my hands, unsure as to why I was nervous about opening it. Beside me, Alice huffed and lowered her letter. I was too preoccupied to ask, and she was too lost in thought to explain.

Suddenly, my envelope disappeared. Alice had it.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, reaching for it.

"Bella, you're too predictable. You'll end up in hospital from a paper cut or something." She slipped her finger under the paper and ripped it open with her long nail before she handed it back.

"Oh," I said, realising she was right. "Thanks."

Alice answered by smiling and blowing a bubble with her gum, then she unfolded her letter and started reading it again.

I slipped out the folded paper in my envelope, and flattened it out, trying to get rid of the creases before I allowed my eyes to wander to the text. I still couldn't work out why I was so nervous.

_**Dear Bella,**_

The elegant writing was as consistent as if it had been typed.

_**Hello. My name is Edward Masen. I'm a student at Port Angeles High, as I'm sure you've worked out. I don't really know why I signed up for this, perhaps Paul's fifty bucks on a reply has something to do with it.**_

_**I probably shouldn't have told you that. Oh well. If the only reason you reply is to make a bored guy fifty dollars richer, I'll be happy with that.**_

_**Anyway, the criteria sheet we got says we should talk about our families and pets. I don't think that's a very wise idea, to be honest. The internet can do a lot these days, the fact that you know what high school I go to, what my last name is and that I have a friend called Paul should be enough information for any self-respecting stalker to do his thing. Hey, if you're a stalker, don't be, okay? It's weird man, weird.**_

_**So, the next criterion is 'What your favourite things to do are'. Umm, well I don't really have a lot to do with my time, dealing drugs and blowing up school network systems is pretty time consuming.**_

_**Joking!**_

_**But seriously, I do have stuff I like doing with my time. Like… well, I play the piano (my whining to quit lessons never worked, and somehow I like doing it now), I like to read – thought if you disclose that information to anyone I will cheerfully beat you to death (once again, joke!). Oh, and**_

_I like moonlit walks on the beach with my one and only beloved, Leah Clearwater_

_**Paul, I will seriously stab you with this pen. Leah is my cousin. That is inbred.**_

_**Sorry about that. That was Paul, my**_

**kinky little sex bomb**

_**DO YOU GUYS HAVE A DEATH WISH?!**_

_**Ahem. Sorry about that, they're all now squealing like girls because I locked them together in the janitor's closet.**_

_**But I can't be bothered writing another letter, so either that last part will make you think I have multiple personality disorder or I have extremely weird friends.**_

_**If I were you, I'd be scared. Unless you're a stalker, which means that it would have peaked your interest. Okay, whatever, getting weird. New topic:**_

_**Criteria on the sheet: 'Talk about your friends'.**_

_**Oh wow. That's weird. But okay Mr Sheet, whatever you say.**_

_**My friends, who are really losers who I happen to hang around with because they make me feel normal, are all nuts-o.**_

_**There's Paul – writing #1 – who has way too much energy and likes to tell lame jokes then laugh at them. He also desperately needs a girlfriend.**_

_Shut up, so do you loser-face!_

_**Get back in the cupboard or I will put you there.**_

_**Okay, back to business.**_

_**Writing #2 is Sam. Sam is flippin' massive – no one can understand how he looks 25 while he's only actually eighteen. (That's me too by the way, eighteen.)**_

_**Though those two are insane, and I love them for it in a totally non-sexual way, my best friend is definitely Jared. He is the only one of us losers who has a girlfriend. Her name's Kim**_

_And she is the hottest thing to walk this earth since Edward Anthony Masen and his sexy sexy buns_

_**Okay. This is getting ridiculous. Jared, there's lots of food in the cupboard. Go get it.**_

**I'm Edward and I like boobies and wearing nailpolish**

_**This is getting impossibly ridiculous.**_

_**I hope you write back, because I clearly need something constructive to do with my time.**_

_**Sincerely hoping you're not a stalker,**_

_**Edward Masen**_

I realised I was smiling. I also realised the room was empty other than Alice and I, and that Alice was reading her letter for what must have been the fifth time. She was a much faster reader than me.

I stood up and pulled Alice with me.

"C'mon," I said, towing her along behind me. "Alice!" I said sharply, because she wasn't paying any attention at all. She'd barely moved, despite being less than a third of my size.

She snapped out of her little trance and looked around. "Oh," she said, folding the letter again. "Where'd everyone go?"

"It's time to go home, so I guess that's where they are." I started walking out the door again and she followed me this time.

"How's your letter?" I asked her as we headed for the parking lot.

"It was pretty interesting. I got a girl named Leah. She's got a little brother called Seth."

"Why were you reading it so much?"

Alice sighed and dug her hand into the pocket with her letter in it, but didn't pull it out. She seemed to be holding onto it to make sure it was still there.

"I don't know; I just felt like I was missing something."

"Okay then." I stopped, because we were at my car. Alice took an extra two steps before she realised I wasn't there anymore. She stepped back with a sheepish expression on her face.

"How about you?" She hunched her shoulders against the drizzle of rain that was starting to fall around us.

"Oh, mine's a guy." Alice raised an eyebrow suggestively at me. I rolled my eyes and ignored her. "His friends kept scribbling on his letter."

"Name?"

"Edward." Saying his name felt strange, like it was tugging at the edges of a memory long forgotten.

"Masen?"

I looked at her like she was insane. "How do you know that?!"

She defended herself quickly, but not harshly. "Well, my Leah chick has a cousin called Edward Masen."

"Oh. Sorry." I smiled at her, remembering my letter and how Edward had mentioned a girl called Leah.

Alice jumped forward and hugged me before whispering in my ear, "Its okay. I know I can be weird sometimes."

I laughed as she skipped away. "That's why we're best friends!"

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**I know it's not that interesting yet... trust me, it gets better. Pleeeease review?**

**Love you all!**

**-Shaps**


	3. Cafeteria

**Heya everyone, thanks a bunch for your reviews!! It means a lot to see them all pretty and nice in my hotmail inbox :-) **

**I'll answer questions people post in reviews here, so here's the first of them:**

joellen818 asked,** Where do Bella and Alice go to school?** Answer:** Forks High.**

**And thanks to kiko anime, Michelle62092, joellen818, allyg1990, Music ADD, A - Mizzle (ally), Rommy, Naomirocks! (), for all reviewing. I really appreciate it, guys!**

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**Chapter Three: Cafeteria**

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The next morning at school, I was late because Charlie took my alarm clock from my room as some kind of practical joke. He was already gone by the time I'd woken – with five minutes to get dressed and inhale my breakfast – so I couldn't yell at him like a desperately wanted to before school.

Fortunately the sight of Mike in Biology calmed me down, and as I walked through the door, the final bell charming overhead, I forgot all about the alarm clock incident.

"So what did the secretary want?" Mike pretended to drop something as I pulled my chair back so Mr Banner wouldn't see him talking to me.

I let my hair fall in front of my face and pretended to look out the window as I whispered my response. "Port Angeles letters."

"Oh, okay," he said, understanding lighting his expression. "Alice got hers too? And Angela?"

Only a boyfriend as gorgeous as Mike would think to remember such insignificant information. I smiled as I pretended to scratch my nose when I whispered back, "Yep, them too."

He smiled lovingly at me for two heart beats, then turned to the board.

"Damn notes," he muttered under his breath as Mr Banner continued to scribble his annoyingly messy writing on the whiteboard at the front of the class. We sat in silence for a few minutes, hectically copying down the notes on a speech I'd missed. I was going to have to ask Mike to help me understand _what the fruit_ Mr Banner had written about after class.

Suddenly, Mike's head snapped up. "Can I see your letter?" he asked, flashing me a toothy grin like a child asking for lollies before dinner time.

I rolled my eyes at him, but couldn't hold the mock sour expression on my face because he looked too cute to stay mad at, even if it was only pretend. I answered by wriggling around in my seat to pull the letter out of the pocket of my jacket, where I'd stashed it yesterday.

Mike took it from my hand and almost started laughing when he saw the writing on the front of the envelope.

"They _typed_ it?!"

He was laughing in silent hysterics, his shoulders shaking with the effort of not breaking into a loud, silence-shattering cackle.

"No," I said, smiling and taking the letter from him as he held it out, obviously needing the hand to hold his side. "It's not typed, it's just very neat."

"Yeah, well," he laughed, tears welling in his eyes. "That chick must have _way too much time_ on her hands!"

I rolled my eyes, a trademark habit, and didn't bother to correct him for fear that telling him it was actually a boy would send him into uncontrollable laughter that would get us both sent out of the room, and possibly get my letter confiscated too.

For some uncomprehendable reason, I'd become unnecessarily attached to the small pieces of paper in my hand.

The night before, I had pulled it out and re-read it too many times to count, even neglecting a good half of my hefty homework load to just stare at the beautiful writing. I wanted to know what the writer's hands looked like, if they were as soft as the writing suggested- but I'd stopped myself, realising that I was sounding like a completely crazy person. And possibly a stalker – quite ironic considering what had been written in Edward Masen's graceful handwriting.

Once realising this, I had put it back in my bag and defiantly started doing my homework.

It was ridiculous that I wasn't able to think straight without the letter in my peripheral vision, and that I had to have it sitting across the desk from me in order to be able to complete the more important part of my homework load.

Mike snapped me back into reality then, lightly hitting my arm and saying, "Have you got these notes down yet?"

I flicked my eyes at the clock and saw that there were only a few minutes until the end of lesson. Slightly panicked by the amount of writing I had to do and the now inevitable pain of hand cramp I was going to be suffering by the end of this scribbling marathon, I snatched my pen off the desk and started writing like the world was ending.

"Put the spoon down, Rose, you look beautiful already."

Emmett's voice threw off my train of thought, annoying me because I completely forgot what it was I'd been so absorbed in thinking about.

It was lunchtime, and the lot of us were sitting around a table in the cafeteria, occasionally ducking when a stray bottle cap or half-eaten apple flew overhead.

Alice and Angela were sitting beside each other, having a whole half of the table to themselves. Ange even had a leg propped up on the spot beside her, inadvertently flaunting how much space they had.

Rose was sitting on the end, her elbow on the table and chin being propped up by her hand. The other hand had a spoon in it and she was either admiring her reflection or spying on the boring people behind her. Emmett was sitting along the side of the table, so together he and Rosalie claimed a full corner for themselves. Today, instead of breaking someone's knuckles in a game of the same name, he was devoting all his attention to Rosalie, who seemed to be upset at something due to the glum expression on her face.

Mike sat next to Emmett, and I next to him, and we were talking to each other as well as Alice and Angela, debating on whether the paper on Romeo and Juliet was due Monday or Tuesday next week.

"I swear it's Monday!" Alice claimed, slapping a bony fist down on the table in mock anger. She still had a toothy smile on her face so there was no way she was going to make Mike cave until she pulled out the death glare, which was usually reserved for one person and one person only.

I leaned forward, my shoulders jutting upward as I dented the wood with my elbows. "Alice." I said, reaching a hand out and putting it on her shoulder. "It's okay; you can admit you're wrong. You are among friends, after all, and I know that no one-" I shot Mike a sharp sideward glance, "-will give you a hard time over it." I sighed dramatically and removed my hand.

Angela was giggling so hard at my _Bold And The Beautiful_ moment that she had clutched her hands over her stomach and her still-laughing head was resting on the table between her and Mike.

There was a cafeteria tray in front of Alice, stacked high with uneaten food. The four of us had been arguing for so long that no one had yet devoured their lunch. Angela was still laughing and occasionally hitting the table with her fist as fits of giggles overwhelmed her, and I was watching the precariously piled food cautiously.

Alice just raised an eyebrow at me, and then her little hand whipped out to slap Angela in the arm, causing the giggles to erupt into full blown laughs.

Many people turned around to see the source of the noise but no one said anything. Most of them just gave us a blank look then went back to their respective lunches.

"It really is Tuesday though, Alice, and you'll be wasting your time if you do it on the weekend," I said with a smile on my face, glancing at Ange who was wiping away tears of laughter.

Alice wasn't going to give up without a fight. "Well, even if it is Tuesday, then it won't hurt to do it over the weekend. I'll have it ready before it's time to hand it up, whether that is on Monday or Tuesday." Then she folded her arms and leaned back, triumphant, and totally aware that she had reached at impasse if not a victory.

"Okay Alice, whatever." She did have a point though. In the unlikely case that it _was_ actually due on Monday, if I did it over the weekend I would have it ready for whatever the due day might be. I added it to my not-yet-too-long mental list of things to do over the short break from schoolwork.

My mind was dreading the load of washing I had skipped last weekend because of the too-sweet date Mike had surprised me with (it was our five month anniversary and I had been convinced he'd forgotten). The fact that I was going to have to face mouldy socks when I ought to be out partying was playing on my mind when something both bizarre and unexpected happened.

"Hey Anna!"

Jasper slipped into the empty spot beside Alice, bumping her as he did so. Angela automatically moved up, and Alice wriggled along the bench to get as far from Jasper as she could in the limited space.

"What do you want?" she growled at him. She wouldn't have forgotten the incident on Monday morning.

"Nothing," he said innocently, dramatically throwing his shoulders back. Jasper then leaned over the table and grabbed a roll from Angela and Alice's shared lunch tray. He shook it in Alice's face and said, "Eat it, go on!"

There was the sound of wood being dragged back as both Emmett and Mike stood up, making their presences known. Emmett was the obvious threat as Mike wasn't as big as Jasper, but numbers usually counted for something.

Jasper's head snapped up to Emmett's looming form, and he snapped a military salute as he said, "At ease, boys." He then looked to Alice, who was again shaking with fury at his incredibly rude attitude. I would turn and run in the opposite direction as fast as I could if Alice were to ever give me a glare like the one she was giving Jasper now. Instead, Jasper simply said, "You look Chinese," before he stood and left.

There was silence at the table for five seconds, in which everyone badly wanted to get up and slap or punch Jasper Whitlock very hard in his stupid face. Neither Emmett or Mike had sat down yet, and when I realised this I tugged on Mike's sleeve. Emmett dropped back down once Mike had, then turned to start talking to Rosalie again.

I was looking carefully at Alice to see whether she was just angry; or upset as well as angry. She raised a hand a swept it through her spiky hair before turning back to face us at the table. Her eyes flicked from me to Mike, to Emmett, and to Rosalie. For some reason her eyes stayed on Rosalie, so I followed her gaze. Emmett was looking wildly around the room – because Rosalie was gone.

I looked around then too, and saw her. She was standing across the other side of the room, talking to _Jasper Whitlock._ I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I instantly liked Rosalie much more for it.

She and Jasper were each standing side-profile to us, so we could see both their expressions.

Jasper looked like he had been caught trying to bury the neighbours still-breathing cat. Rosalie looked so furious it was almost frightening to gaze at her – even side on and from such a distance away.

As we watched, Rosalie appeared to be burning Jasper with words more effectively than anyone else ever had. Though I couldn't hear it, I knew Rosalie was winning hands down in their argument. Her normally attractive face was fuming, her mouth moving so quickly to form words that I could tell from here were scalding. I badly wished I could hear what she was saying.

She must have been getting at her angriest, because we saw her getting a little pink in the cheeks, she straightened up more than usual, gaining more height over the already cringing Jasper, and pointed a hand out at our table as she spoke, never breaking her gaze from his. She stopped talking and waited for a response from Jasper, who shrugged and said something which looked apologetic. Rosalie folded her arms and pursed her lips, looking like she was restraining a prudent urge to yell at him. Then she said something very slowly and menacingly, which made Jasper's cheeks flush and he looked extremely vulnerable. Rosalie death-glared at him for an extra moment before she turned on her heel and started weaving thorough the cafeteria crowd back to our table.

We each turned and looked in different directions, pretending that we hadn't seen anything. I was staring at the cracks in the wall on the opposite side of the room when Rosalie sat down again. I didn't look, but I heard Emmett ask her "Where'd you go?" and she replied "Oh, I just had to talk to someone."

I turned my head halfway around and saw out the corner of my eye that no one else was looking at Rosalie apart from Emmett, so I turned my head a little further and saw from the corner of my eye that Rosalie was grimacing. She still had the flush of pink in her cheeks from the argument, and she was breathing a little heavier than normal. I could see even from my peripherals that her calm expression was forced.

Emmett could tell that she wasn't going to mention her miraculous shutting-down of Jasper Whitlock, so he shrugged and let it go, but he still looked slightly in awe of her.

A minute later Emmett whispered something in Rose's ear that made her cheeks burn again, and she giggled before nodding. He smiled and pulled her up from her chair, then walked with her through the crowd of students.

On his way out he turned back and winked to Mike, who caught on immediately.

"How does he never get caught having pash-fests with her at lunch times?!" Mike vented once the two of them had left the room.

Angela looked up from the table to Alice, who had a blank expression on her face. "Alice?" she asked tentatively. Alice looked at her then smiled.

"I like Rosalie a lot better than I did ten minutes ago."

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**Well, what did you think? Getting more interesting yet? Oh, and just so I don't get smacked for making Bella and Mike a couple... don't worry. All's fair in love and war (if it doesn't make sense now, it will soon enough).**

**Review? You'll get your name all shiny and pretty on the next chapter!!**

**-Shaps**


	4. Reply

**So, here's chapter four. Thanks so much for your reviews!! And here the ever-loved reviewers get their moment of glory:**

**Allyg1990, Zuntiz, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, sweet333249, Michelle62092, chrissyhale, Rommy**

**I really appreciate it!! And to the twelve people who have my story on alert - I love you too!! So here it is... Chapter Four.**

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I walked into gym with Alice at my side, happy about today's lesson. We were going to be listening to a lecture on the proper manner that all athletes ought to adopt – apparently he'd heard some of the girls in the class (Lauren Mallory at the centre of it) complaining about the lack of skill possessed by _some people_.

Everyone knew it was me – but no one was nasty enough to say snide comments to my face for fear of a bony little arm reaching up and slapping or scratching them forcefully across the cheek. It was good to have Alice Brandon on my side.

We didn't bother to get changed, as no one else was either, and we simply crossed to the wooden stand on the other side of the gym below the "GO SPARTANS!" poster, which was half-falling off the wall.

Luckily for me, barely anyone was there yet so only Alice and a few others saw me trip and stumble on the steps as we climbed our way up the stand. The onlookers smiled in an amused way, but my uncoordinated nature had been seen too often for them to find it laugh-worthy anymore.

"Have you started your reply yet?" Alice asked from next to me while I dug around in my bag for a water bottle.

I looked up at her while I poked my tongue out the side of my mouth and immersed my arm into my bag up to my elbow. "Nah, not yet. You?"

The truth was that I _had_ started; the seven different letters were now just sitting in crumpled little half-finished heaps at the bottom of the trash can in my room. Nothing I wrote sounded interesting enough, and each time I compulsively re-read Edward's letter it only confirmed my suspicions that he wasn't going to open my reply the moment he saw my intensely messy scribble on the outer of the envelope.

"Yeah, I've finished it." She looked at me with a mildly concerned look on her face. "Do you think six pages long is too long?"

I gaped at her. Alice's writing was tiny – so her six pages would be equal to about eighteen of mine.

I managed to come out with "As long as you talk about interesting things, I guess," after a moment of slack-jawed gawking. "_How_ did you come up with six pages of stuff to talk about?!"

She looked thoughtful before she answered. "If you really wanted to, you could write a thousand pages on what you were wearing, Bella. Just waffle on about nothing, believe me, it's very, _very_ easy."

She turned to the front of the class then, and I followed her gaze, reclaiming my hand from my school bag with a half-empty water bottle in my grasp. Most of the seats had filled in front of us while we had been talking.

Coach Clapp suddenly slammed his hands together, making a few of the girlier girls squeal in alarm. The sudden smash of noise echoing around the gym even made the Coach wiggle a finger in his ear – to get rid of the ringing noise I suspected he now had vibrating around in his head. I knew I had one in my own skull, at least.

I took a swig from my water bottle and looked around at the people in front of me. Lauren, Jessica, Victoria and Tanya were sitting down the front; only just seating themselves as they'd walked in late; Mike, Ben and Tyler were a few rows back from them and off to the left, trying not to crack up laughing at something Ben had in his bag. Everyone else just looked like a sea of shiny-haired heads.

"So, ladies and gentlemen," he began, showing us his best and most persuasive smile – which wasn't all that good anyway. "As you know, today I'll be pointing out the _do's_ and _don'ts_ of sports. My first area to address is one that I believe is more important; talking about other classmates – I mean, er," he chuckled nervously and deliberately didn't look at me or Lauren, "talking about other _team members_."

I could almost _hear_ Lauren rolling her eyes down at the front of the stand. She whispered something into Jessica's ear, but Jessica just shot her a sharp look and Lauren looked slightly deflated at Jessica's reaction.

"Psst, Bella," Alice hissed from beside me.

I leaned my head towards her, but didn't turn my face away from the front because I knew that that would alert Coach Clapp to our whispering.

"Yeah," I said, trying hard not to move my lips.

Alice bent her head down to hide her face as she whispered quickly to me. "I'm going to drop my letter off at the front office this afternoon. Do you want me to drop one in for you?"

"Alice," I hissed in an almost frantic voice as I realised something. "What day is it?!"

"Thursday," she whispered back.

_Oh crap._ "Did we have to hand in our letters by today?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment, remembering what had happened on Wednesday. "Yes, I think so."

_Crap, crap, crap._ "Please be kidding." I closed my eyes and leaned my head down, hitting myself in the forehead with the heel of my hand.

"Write one now," she suggested, guessing my concern. She tipped her head up then, because Coach Clapp had smacked his palms together yet again, not quite as loudly as before, but loudly enough. I was too absorbed in my own stupidity to worry about what the Coach was doing.

Alice did have a point. Maybe I could scrape at least a note to him, telling him I wasn't some little snob who wanted nothing to do with a guy from Port Angeles High School and hadn't written back because my delicate and manicured fingernails couldn't handle the strain of using a pen, and that my blonde hair would start to fade if I put myself under such pressure, though bitching about people behind their backs about their gym skills seemed to expend no effort for me because it was just something I did all the time.

I took a big breath in, and released it quietly.

I had double gym to either listen to Coach Clapp lecture the class on something which wasn't even (directly) aimed at me, or write a letter to an impossibly interesting person about my impossibly boring self.

The first option _almost_ looked more appealing.

I leaned down and shoved my water bottle into my bag, then started blindly digging for a notepad and a pen. Alice poked me in the arm and I blew the hair out of my face to see her holding out a notepad and a pen for me. She even had an envelope included in the little bundle.

"How did you…?" I whispered, taking the stationery from her.

She shrugged and just said, "I thought I might need it before I left home this morning."

I let it pass, knowing that arguing about an envelope was going to cost me valuable writing minutes. I clapped my knees together and pushed my heels against the wood of the stand under me, then put the envelope under the note pad and uncapped the pen. I thought about what to write.

"Start with saying 'hello'," Alice whispered from next to me. She had a small smile on her face when I snuck a glance. I nodded my head once and wrote:

_Dear Edward,_

...

Nothing came to mind, so I looked at Alice again. She rolled her eyes, so I flashed a cheesy smile at her and whispered, "Pleeeeease?"

"Tell him the three basic elements of your life. Friends, family and fun."

I looked at her like she was a goddess and whispered, "I love you Alice!" before turning back to my paper.

"I know, I know, now get writing."

The instruction to 'get writing' was unnecessary because I'd already started scribbling about the three F's.

_Dear Edward,_

_Hi! It was good to get your letter. I mean, it wasn't_ good _but it was nice to actually get a letter – because it would have been disappointing if no one wrote to me – or if someone boring wrote to me – not that you're boring! You're not boring at all. Your life sounds very interesting._

I knew I sounded insane, but when I thought properly (and not about how soft his hands may or may not be), Edward's letter sounded pretty insane too.

_So your friends sound… nice. One of my best friends looks like he should be a teacher here rather than a student – so I know how your friend Sam must look! As for your friend Paul… I hate to admit it, but it does seem like he could use a girlfriend to distract him from doing things like scribbling on your letters! Sam could just go snap a tree in half if he got bored, if he's anything like Emmett (the giant eighteen year old mentioned above)._

_Speaking of ages and all things associated, I'm seventeen, but I'm a little shorter than your average. I have nothing on my best friend, Alice, though. Emmett's her brother (reason #2 not to pay her out about height) and she's deadly with a pair of high-heeled shoes (reason #1). I may be little too, but I can throw a fair right-hook if someone calls me "Shorty" or anything along those lines – so don't even think about it._

_Joking! (But seriously, don't do it.)_

_Back to the friends' topic, good for your friend Jared! A fair few of the guys here have girlfriends, but none of them would write something so intentionally sappy about her on a letter which will obviously be seen by not only his mates, but by a complete stranger from another school._

_Gutsy stuff. And why is it that you don't have a girlfriend, Edward?_

I wasn't sure why I'd written that, but it was a little late to try and scribble it out.

_Hmm. Living arrangements seems to be a good topic (please don't be a stalker either!) so I'll mention that now._

_I live with my Dad, Police Chief Charlie Swan (reason #4 or #5 not to stalk me - Alice and Emmett are my #2's and #3's, my superior right hook is my #1) here in Forks. My mom lives in Florida with her second husband. At first I hated living here, but its bearable now, and I love all my friends too much to leave the constant cover of clouds now!_

_It's cool that you play the piano! My Mum used to play for me when I was little, but she wasn't show-material so I was one of the only people that ever heard her. I love reading too so don't worry, I wont be bagging you out about that. It's nice to know that guys_ can _actually read. (No offence, but seriously, how often do you see a guy with his head voluntarily buried in a book?!) Other things I like doing with my time is to spend hours chatting with my best friend, Alice, and Angela, my other bestie. Alice is a shopaholic and Angela is so nice that she wouldn't swear if she was kidnapped. I would swear, for sure. And throw a right hook._

_Okay, well, I think I've bored you enough with my silly little life, so here comes the end of my letter;_

_Sincerely telling you that I'm not a stalker, and hoping that the same is true for you,_

_Bella Swan_

Alice Brandon is a legend!

_Yes, thank you for that Alice ._

_PS You'd better reply, because I'm endangering my gym class education to write to you!_

I looked to Alice, who was reading over my shoulder. She was still spinning a pen in her hand from the graffiti she'd left on my page, and she had a small smile on her face. She nodded in approval then pretended to listen to the closing sentiments of Coach Clapp's speech as I folded the two letter pages up. I then scribbled _Edward Masen _on the front of the envelope; slipped the folded pages inside and tucked the flap underneath.

Alice whipped it out of my hand and stood up along with the rest of the students, who were gathering their things as the bell overhead sounded. Coach Clapp was fruitlessly calling out further information about some athletics thing, but then he gave up and rushed to the door to hand out associated fliers.

I zipped my bag closed and handed Alice back the notepad and pen, which disappeared into her own bag a moment later. I stood up beside her and started to weave my way down the stairs with Alice at my side. I concentrated very hard on not doing anything that would cause my face to meet with the floor, and almost succeeded.

Just as I passed Lauren Mallory's little troupe, Victoria stuck her leg out in front of me. Luckily Mike was waiting for Alice and I at the bottom, and he caught me before I'd gone too far down. Victoria made some strange noise, and I honestly thought she was trying to break glass with her pitch before I realised that it was her version of a laugh.

"Whoops," she giggled stupidly, flicking her hair over her shoulder. Her butt stuck out when she scooped her bag up from the floor, wiggling it in a way that I thought was meant to be alluring. As she followed Tanya, Jess and Lauren toward the door, she turned back and winked at Mike over her shoulder with eyelashes that were half-falling off.

Mike had to call Alice to help to restrain me as I fought his grip to smack her across her caked-up face. Once they'd left the building, however, I righted myself by shrugging into my jacket and blowing a loose strand of hair out of my face.

"I could've taken her," I said, turning to them and punching my fist into my palm.

Alice laughed nodded as she said, "We know. We were just worried about you rearranging her face in front of a teacher." She looked over my shoulder to Coach Clapp, who would have had an excellent view of my supposed fight with Victoria across the basketball courts. He was standing by the exit with the fliers still in his hands. Apparently not a lot of people were interested in taking one.

Just as I twisted my head back to Mike and Alice, who were the only other ones still in the gym, Mike muttered "Uh, oh".

"Uh, oh?" I repeated, "what's 'uh oh'?"

I was answered by Coach Clapp's overly enthusiastic voice thundering into my left ear.

"Good to see some students interested in the athletics carnival!" he nearly shouted at us. "So, Miss Brandon," he said, raising a clipboard I hadn't noticed before, "what were you interested in putting your name down for?"

I nearly started laughing when I saw Alice's expression. She covered it quickly, however, and simply said, "I don't do sports, Coach."

Unfortunately for Alice, he didn't just sigh an 'oh well' and move onto Mike, he seemed to enjoy the challenge that Alice presented.

"Don't do sport, eh? I've heard you're quite the runner, actually. Did I hear wrong?"

Alice opened her mouth to counter whatever it was that he'd heard, but I interjected before she could draw enough breath to even _start _to do so.

"Oh yeah," I agreed, watching Alice's face freeze in shock. "She's brilliant. Almost as fast as the speed of light! I think she could take on some of the state runners, to be honest. In the hundred metre race she's untouchable. Short distance is definitely her strength." I nodded convincingly and had to try very hard to not laugh at Alice's frozen expression.

Mike caught on suddenly, realising what I was doing. "She's always wanted to complete for the school, Coach, but hasn't had the confidence to say so before."

Coach Clapp beamed at Alice. "Well, now, isn't it a good thing that you've got such caring friends!" He raised his clipboard a little higher, and said, "How do you spell your last name?"

Mike stepped forward and started spelling it out for him while I doubled over with laughter behind his back. Alice's face had melted from its shocked form and she was glaring at me with such intensity that I was surprised I wasn't bursting into flame – but it didn't stop me laughing.

I straightened up just as Mike said to me over Coach Clapp's shoulder, "Bella, what do you want to sign up for?"

His voice sounded innocent enough, but the look on his face (that the Coach couldn't see) let me know that his intentions were anything but innocent. In my peripheral I saw Alice smile an evil smile.

"She's brilliant at badminton, sir, an absolute gem," Alice said, stepping forward to look over the sheet on his clipboard.

Mike stepped back and folded his arms, deliberately pulling down the corners of his mouth so he wouldn't start laughing. As I glared, he stuffed a fist between his teeth and turned away, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

I stepped to the sheet on Coach Clapp's other side and stared at Alice until she looked up at me. I mouthed the words _'You're dead'_ and drew a finger across my throat. Alice pretended to quiver with fear, then raised an eyebrow at me, daring me to take her on.

"Hmm," the Coach's voice interrupted my visions of myself tearing off the heels of Alice's favourite Jimmy Choo's. "It seems we haven't got any badminton places left, sorry Bella. Maybe next year?"

I sighed with relief, until Alice piped up again.

"How about volley ball?"

He drew his finger down the sheet. "We've got a full team for them too."

Mike was still laughing behind me so I aimed a successful kick in his direction. I felt my heel connect with the back on his knee and turned in time to see him crumple onto the floor as his knee gave way. I laughed but turned it into a cough as he pulled himself up.

"Alright there Newton?" Coach Clapp said as he twisted to look over his shoulder. The clipboard was momentarily in my perfect line of vision, and my eyes jumped to the only thing I was willing to do for the athletics carnival.

"I think I'll be able to help out on the athletics day, Coach," I said as he turned back to me, a knowing smile lighting his features.

"So what were you interested in, Swan? Running, Shot-put, Cross-Country, Long-Jump, Javelin?"

Internally shuddering at the injuries I could inflict with a long pointed stick in my hand, I shook my head. "None of those. I was thinking of doing something a little more low-profile, but still important. There's a space there for the runner team's manager. How about that?"

"Excellent idea, Swan, it's good to see you having some Spartan Spirit!" he pumped his fist into the air on the last two words, keeping it there and nodding at us all in turn.

I was embarrassed _for_ him.

Alice jumped in, sensing an easy get-away for herself.

"Are there any other team manager positions available?" She leaned up on her tippy-toes to see the sheet in his hands.

"Sorry, Miss Brandon, but Bella took the last empty place. You'll do brilliantly as a runner anyway! I've seen you whisking around the mall in those high-heeled shoes of yours," he said. It became a little creepy when he winked at her. "Well, I've got places to be. Thanks for your effort, kids, and I'll see you next Monday!"

He turned to leave when Mike suddenly said, "Wait! I'd like to sign up for a few things, if I can sir." He took a step in the Coach's direction and was greeted with an enthusiastic smile, but not as enthusiastic as when he was looking at Alice. I started shaking with silent laughter as the perverted thought crossed my mind.

Coach Clapp was a nice, married man, and there was no way he'd ever try anything with Alice – it was probably just her habit of wearing lethal-looking heels and her natural charms that had caught her a place on the school's athletic team. Compared to me, however, Alice was way down in the deep end.

Alice took a step towards me with a murderous expression in her eyes. "Isabella Swan, I am going to _kill_ you!" she hissed under her breath.

I just laughed and whispered back, "Relax Alice, you're a really good runner. I wouldn't have been so cruel if you _really_ couldn't play sports. You'll be fine."

"That's not the issue here!"

"Then what is?" I asked, confused by her minor outburst.

"I have to wear _Spartan-themed gym clothes_!"

I was still doubled over with painfully silent laughter when Mike re-emerged from his ten minute chat with Coach Clapp.

I pulled myself together and wiped a tear from my eye as I straightened up and look at Mike's cute face. "What'd you sign up for?"

"Pretty much everything," he said, putting an arm around my waist and starting to walk to the doors with Alice muttering curses behind us. "Long and short-distance running, long-jump, discus, shot-put, triple-jump, I think that's it." He smiled down at me and kissed my forehead.

"Wow," I said, looking up at him in awe. "Is that all?" I asked sarcastically.

He laughed as he let go of my waist and pulled me into a quick hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, I've got work in ten." He pulled back and quickly kissed me on the lips before turning and heading for his car.

Alice appeared behind me then, and I knew she wasn't angry anymore before I'd even turned around. It she _had _been still fuming at me, I'd have one of her heels poking out of my butt by now.

She jingled her keys as she headed for the door of her extravagant yellow Porsche – a reward for her straight-A report card last semester – and gave me a look which meant she was going to give me a ride home instead of leaving me in the parking lot.

I gratefully climbed into the cabin, heaters already blasting. Behind us, Mike's car beeped as it swept past the back of ours, heading for the exit and avoiding the late-leavers from the school grounds. I raised a hand out of my still-open door as a goodbye, then quickly pulled it closed as I was reminded how cold it was out.

Alice snapped her belt on beside me, then swore quietly, and undid her belt again.

"What are you doing?" I asked as she opened her door and climbed out.

"The letters," she said, leaning back in and kneeling on her driver's seat to dig around in her bag for them. "I'll be quick," she promised, closing the door behind her and running up towards the offices. I twisted around in my chair to watch her sprint – she really was very fast – to the office building. I turned back and started examining my fingernails when a tap on the glass beside my head got my attention.

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**Oooooh cliffy!! Lol. You know you love me. Does everyone still hate Mike? I thought it'd be an interesting idea to put him and Bella together... but hey. Whatever goes, goes! Question to my reviewers: Why do you hate Mike Newton? (Not restricted to my story. It can be for _any_ reason. _Any_.)**

**Love you all!!**

**-Shaps**

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Chapter Four: Reply


	5. Party

**Hey everyone!! Hope you're all still interested in reading my story...**

**And, as promised:**

**Thanks to these reviewers: chrissyhale, Rommy, allyg1990, Screams-At-Midnight, Vampires-Rock4eva.**

**And thanks for the answers to the 'Why do you hate Mike?' question last chapter from: Screams-At-Midnight, Vampires-Rock4eva and Rommy.**

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**Chapter Five: Party**

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I started rolling down my window, but some cold air gushed in through the gap and made me shiver. I realised I was going to make the car cold again, so I wound it back up and pushed open the door. I tightened my coat around myself as I leaned against Alice's Porsche.

"What is it, Jacob?" I looked up at his sneering face and smiled sarcastically back. "This had better be important, it's cold out here and it's not cold in the cabin – where I don't have to listen to you speak."

I knew I was being completely harsh, but Jacob Black was second in command to Jasper in their little gang. He wasn't as nasty to me as Jasper was to Alice, but he still took pleasure in irritating me half to death.

"I was just thinking, Swan, that maybe you and your little _friend_-" he looked to the right, where Alice was walking brusquely back to her car, her eyes fixed on Jacob, "should get out more. So I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come to this party me and Whitlock are throwing."

_Why, why do guys always call everyone by their last names?_

He held out a piece of paper to me, and when I didn't take it he waved it a little more forcefully. I rolled my eyes and snatched the invite from him. I turned and grabbed the handle of the door so I could get back in, assuming he was finished with our conversation. When he put a hand on the door, holding it closed, I shut my eyes in frustrated annoyance. I held my tongue as I turned back to him.

"Is there something else?"

He was obviously trying to be sexy or _something_ because he leaned into me, trying to sandwich me between his body and the car. "I'd _really_ like it if you came, Swan."

I turned my head to the side and tried not to convulse.

"We'll think about it, Jake, and _if_," I emphasised the 'if' with great force, "_if_ we decide to come, I'll be bringing my _boyfriend_ and Alice will be bringing Emmett." I put my hands on his chest and shoved him away from me, pulling open the door of the car before he could close it again.

Alice was sitting in the seat beside me once I'd pulled the door closed. Unbelievably, Jacob tapped the window again. I wound it down no more than half a foot, warning him with a look to re-think whatever it was he was about to say.

"I _love_ it when you call me Jake."

I looked at him like he was completely crazy and pushed the button to wind the window up again, flashing him a sarcastic tight lipped smile. As soon as the window was closed, Alice burst out laughing.

"What was _that_ about?"

I held out the piece of paper to her, seething at that stupid boy's nerves.

Alice raised her eyebrows as she scanned over the piece of paper. "Well, this means only one thing," she said, looking at me with an unreadable expression on her face.

"What?" I asked, knowing she wanted to be asked before she revealed her big secret.

"Shopping!"

"Are you kidding?" I asked, dumbstruck as to why she could possibly want to go to this stupid party.

"Bella, Bella, Bella," she said, clucking her tongue and putting the car into gear as we reversed out. "There are many reasons why we should go to this party. First, though they may be jerks, we have been invited to a party and it's rude not to go. Second, we've both got bodyguards for protection if they try anything _smart_ with us. Third, there are always plenty of out-of-town boys at these parties, and I believe I could use a random pash-session to up my confidence."

I rolled my eyes. When was Alice's confidence not 'up'?

"And fourth," she continued, momentum unbroken, "if you'd bothered to read the invite, you would know that this is a _masquerade ball_." She looked at me with a devilish smile across the seats and a twinkle in her eye. "Any excuse to go shopping is good enough for me!"

I laughed at her excitement, and reasoned with myself. Though this party may be thrown by some of the most shudder-worthy guys the school had to offer, there was no rule saying we had to actually speak to them. And if we timed our arrivals well, we could probably spend the night carefree because they would be passed out on the couch.

Alice continued to chat the whole way home about things ranging from the classes we'd had today to Rosalie's blow up at Jasper during lunch, to how she would love to re-design the school's gym clothes and then to possible shopping dates for the stuff we were going to need.

Once she'd pulled up outside the Swan residence, I reached behind my seat to get my bag. Alice grabbed the invite and was looking over it again when I turned back.

"Six weeks," she said, obviously telling me how long we had to find our costumes. "How does the weekend after next sound to head down to Seattle? I'm busy with Ange this weekend."

I thought for a moment, scanning my mental calendar for important dates. "I think that's the weekend of this athletic thing."

Alice huffed and started thinking again. A moment later she said, "The weekend after that then?"

Feeling sure that there wasn't anything important on then, I nodded my head. "Sounds good."

"Wicked." She started fiddling with the heating controls and turned them down a little. "See you tomorrow!"

I pushed open the door and leaned down to say "Goodbye" before I shut it and headed up the path to the house. The cruiser wasn't in the driveway, so Charlie wasn't home yet.

Alice's Porsche sped away into the darkness, the red taillights disappearing around the corner. I reached for the key skilfully hidden under a pot plant outside the door and dropped my bag once I was inside. Glad that the house had managed to maintain some of its heat throughout the cold day, I flicked on the light switch and headed for the kitchen.

Doubling back as I remembered Charlie's looming arrival, I flicked the other light switch so he wouldn't break his neck climbing the porch steps when he got home.

I hung my jacket on a chair and unwound my scarf as I headed for the fridge. Staring mindlessly for a moment at the perishable items, I seized a tray of chicken and some other random ingredients, visualising a pasta-chicken combo for dinner.

Humming a random tune to myself as I worked, I sliced the chicken into edible chunks and threw them into the frying pan. Once they'd cooked enough, I started throwing in butter and other ingredients. I flicked the kettle on and pulled a saucepan out of a drawer, then dug for some pasta in the pantry and cut open the corner of a new bag of Rotelle. I crunched on an uncooked piece as I waited for the water to boil. When it was ready, I added a little salt and threw in some wagon wheel shaped pasta.

Charlie may have been a big eater, but there was no way he – or even the two of us – would have been able to polish off the whole bag.

Still humming, I leaned back against the table and chewed another piece of uncooked Rotelle while I waited for everything to pull together.

As I chewed, I saw my bag sitting by the door. I knew this was going to be a health hazard for when Charlie came barrelling around the corner at the prospect of dinner being cooked once he was through the door, so I checked the food to ensure I had enough time to spare a dash to my bedroom before grabbing my scarf, jacket and bag and heading for the stairs.

I should have known better than to hold my _shoulder bag_ in front of me with one hand, because I'd barely touched down on the first step before my foot got caught and I started to see the step coming too close to my face. I avoided a broken nose but had to throw my coat and scarf in the process of breaking my fall, and they were both sitting a few steps up from where I'd landed.

Pushing back off the carpeted stairs and tugging at the bottom of my shirt to straighten myself a little, I slung my bag over my shoulder where it belonged before I ascended a few stairs to snatch up my lost clothing items.

Just then, I heard Charlie pull up in his cruiser. Remembering that dinner was on the stove and Charlie never liked to see a dinner unmanned, I rushed the remaining stairs, only falling once more in my haste.

I quickly threw my school things on the bed then rushed back down the stairs. The door was just swinging open, and Charlie was just calling his hello when I saw Edward's letter sitting on the bottom stair between Charlie and I.

Normally, I wouldn't care a bit that Charlie were about to see a letter from my pen pal – it was for school, after all – but in this situation it was a bit different. The major issue was that this was a _boy_ who I was writing to. That would never fair well with the Chief.

Almost breaking my neck in the haste to get to the letter before Charlie saw it; I skipped four stairs and succeeded in not breaking anything while I scooped it up and stuffed it into the back pocket of my jeans. The stupid wads of paper, however, didn't like being forced into a confined space and strained against the material on my backside, poking me sharply in the butt with a corner of the envelope.

"I'm home, Bella," Charlie called unnecessarily loudly from the door, obviously assuming I was in my room or the kitchen or something. He had his head down and was unlatching the side of his gun belt in preparation of hanging it up.

The thought of the kitchen reminded me of dinner, so I skipped forward and rounded the corner to the kitchen and got to my place in front of the stove just before Charlie walked through the doorway.

"Hey, Dad," I said over my shoulder, grabbing a spoon and stirring the pasta like I'd been there the whole time.

"What's cookin'?" he said, coming over and leaned over the dishes with a hungry but happy expression on his face.

I suddenly froze as I realised something. The letter was in my back pocket.

Trying to be subtle as I reached my hand back and tried to tug my t-shirt over the back of my pants, I replied "Chicken and pasta," as cheerfully as I could. Luckily for me, my voice didn't crack.

Unluckily for me, however, Charlie slapped his hands together in excitement just like Coach Clapp had done earlier that afternoon, and I jumped, accidentally knocking the letter out of my pocket.

"I'll grab some plates, then," he said, crossing behind me to the cupboard. I cringed and waited for him to discover my dirty little secret, but the next words out of his mouth were, "Do you want the ones with a high edge or the usual flat ones?" followed by the sound of one of the cupboard doors squeaking open.

My eyes shot open and I whipped around to see Charlie's back to me, his arms reaching up to grab whichever plates I was about to request.

"Bella?" he prompted, half turning his head over his shoulder. He didn't get very far because of the obstacle his raised arms presented, so I nearly smacked myself in the nose with the saucepan handle as I ducked and clawed the letter from the floor.

"The ones with the edges, thanks Dad," I said, breathing a silent sigh of relief as I stuffed the letter forcefully back into my pocket.

"'Kay," he said, and the plates clattered quietly as he pulled the required two from the bottom of the stack. "Here you go," he said, putting them on the counter beside me. He leaned over the food again and asked, "How long do you reckon it's got to go?"

I smiled because I could tell he was itching to check if there were any games playing on the television, so I replied with a guess of about ten minutes. He smiled and nodded as he left the room and headed for the lounge. A moment later I heard the rustle as he settled into the couch, then the buzz of male commentary from the television about how fine the weather conditions were for a game of something-rather.

Knowing that Charlie wouldn't be getting up for any leisurely reason in the next ten minutes, I was out of the room in a flash as soon as the noise from the telly reached my ears. I took the stairs two at a time, trying to be quiet, and managed to get to the top unscathed. I carefully pushed open my door a foot or so, knowing it would squeak with any extra distance, and flung the letter from my pocket into the dark room.

Trying to maintain my level of quiet, I twisted my body slightly to the side as I bounced off each step respectively. I may have avoided twisting or breaking something in my last four-stair leap, but I wasn't stupid enough to think I could do it twice in a row and come out injury-free both times.

Back in the kitchen everything was working just as I'd left it; nothing bubbling over the edge of the saucepan and nothing spitting or sizzling as it burnt to the bottom of the pan.

Knowing I was out of the danger zone – at least the one involving Edward's letter – I kept an eye on the food then called Charlie when it was ready.

I was putting the things I'd used to cook into the sink when I heard Charlie's chair drag back across the floor and the quiet creak of the hinges as he settled down.

"Smells good," he commented as I turned with the plates in either hand.

I smiled at him as I sat down on the opposite side of the table. "Then I hope it tastes just as good."

We ate in silence while each of us ploughed through the first half of our meal, then Charlie cleared his throat in the way he usually does when he's about to say something. I looked up from my pasta expectantly, still chewing a mouthful of food.

He cleared his throat again and dabbed the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief he'd produced from his pocket before he spoke. "So you and this Newton kid, you've been together for a while," he began, and I nodded slowly when he looked at me for confirmation. I swallowed my puree of pasta and popped a square of chicken in my mouth. "And I was thinking," Charlie went on, "that maybe it would be nice if we had Mike and his parents around for dinner this weekend. What do you think?"

I'd unintentionally stopped chewing when I heard the word 'parents' in his proposal. I quickly mashed the food before swallowing and gulping some water to dislodge the lump in my throat before I answered.

"That would be really cool, Dad, I'm glad you want to meet them."

And I _was_ glad – Charlie making an effort to get to know Mike more meant he approved of me having a boyfriend, at least, _this_ boyfriend. I hadn't forgotten the warning look received when Charlie had first laid eyes on Emmett Brandon. (Not that we'd ever dated, but Charlie still thought there was something going on when Emmett had had to drive Alice and I around. He'd dropped his suspicions when he'd learned of Alice's aversion to any friend getting more than friendly with her brother.)

Charlie chucked as he responded. "Technically, I won't be meeting them; I've known them for years. This would just be more formal," he pointed out, digging his fork into his pasta again. Once he'd downed another mouthful, he looked up at me and asked through half a bite of chicken if this weekend was okay.

I answered with a nod, not wanting to look as silly as he did trying to talk with a mouth full of mushy food.

We continued the rest of the meal in silence, Charlie happy that he'd gotten around to inviting my boyfriend and his parents over for dinner and me feeling even happier about it.

Everything in my life had pulled together beautifully.

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**Oooooooh!! What happens next? Well, I think you all have theories and you all want to tell me them!! Go ahead and... review!**

**-Shaps**


	6. Geeks

**Hello everyone!! Thankyou sooo much for your feedback, I couldn't help but update again.**

**Thanks to _mrsjacobblack91, x-aly-x, LittleLil, smile for the paparazzi, sTaRz, Music ADD, Lianna Weschester, PowerSurge365, Vampires-Rock4eva, Screams-At-Midnight_ and _allyg1990_ for your reviews!**

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**Vampires-Rock4eva: yes, 'realised' is with a 'z', but not out in her Aussie-land! I would write it as 'z' but I fear that my habits will change and I'll write it wrongly on an essay in an exam or something. But thanks for being so observant!**

**smile for the paparazzi: yes, there shall be an E.POV, but only one, and not for a few more chapters to come. I like leaving a little to the imagination anyhoo, just like the fabulous Missy Meyer in the Twilights.**

**Lilianna Weschester: the Bella/Mike split will come soon, I promise! And Edward's reply will be in chapter 8, so, not too far away. I'm taking so long with it because I want my characters to be established before everything gets thrown (metaphorically) into a blender!**

**mrsjacobblack: yeah, I thought Edward+La Push Gang would be an interesting combo. Does anyone think Emmett and Sam would be besties in other circumstances? (I raise my hand) Heh. I think that'll be my chapter question... anyway. Moving on, here's the sixth!!**

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**Chapter Six: Geeks**

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I pulled up to school the next morning with a spring in my step. Alice met me halfway across the parking lot, her Porsche's lights flicking as she pointed the keys over her shoulder to lock it.

"Hey Alice!" I said brightly as she turned back and hitched her book bag further up her shoulder. She shook her hair out of her eyes and looked at me to see if I was covering some bout of depression with my tone of voice, but once she'd decided I wasn't being fake she smiled back.

"Good morning. How was your afternoon?"

"Pretty lame really. I cooked Charlie and I dinner and almost broke my neck on the stairs, as usual, but then Charlie asked me if I would ask Mike's parents over to dinner tomorrow night!"

Alice beamed brightly at me without any prompting. "Awesome! So you get to meet the parents!"

"Well, yeah, but I've met them so many times before that this wouldn't be very different."

Suddenly, Alice stopped. It took me a few steps to realise this before I stopped and turned back. She had a look of total horror on her face – horror directed at _me_.

"What?" I asked in an unnecessarily high-pitched voice, automatically denying whatever I had or hadn't done wrong.

"'_Wouldn't be very different',_ "she quoted scathingly, and took the necessary steps to be at my side again. She continued past me and threw her hands in the air as she ranted about my apparent ignorance.

"Do you realise how _very different_ this will be? It's going to be the one time where Mike's parents can judge you freely because that's what the night will be intended for – this is the time where you need to make a lasting good impression! Screw it up, Bella," she turned to me and waggled a bony finger in my direction, "screw this night up, and you'll have a likely ex-boyfriend on your hands."

I rolled my eyes and smacked her hand out of the air.

"Really Alice, stop being so melodramatic. It's just dinner. It's not like they'll be sitting there with magnifying glasses observing my every move. Though I wouldn't put it past Charlie to do that to Mike," I said, adding the last part with a smile. Alice followed my lead, probably picturing Charlie with a bright lamp behind him and one eye magnified horribly by a huge manacle jammed between his furrowed brow and raised cheek. She regained her horrified mask, however, once Angela called her hello when we got to the raised footpath indicating the campus grounds.

Alice wheeled around and Angela's steps toward us halted abruptly when she saw the look on Alice's face.

"Do you know what she just said?" Alice said, throwing her arm out in my direction and almost taking out an eye with her pointed finger.

Angela sensed it was safe to approach and regained her steps. "What?" she asked innocently.

Alice's stride, however, was not broken. "She said that the first dinner with Mike's parents wasn't going to be very important!"

Evidently, Angela agreed with me – but she was smart enough not to say so. So she compromised by taking the middle ground.

"Well, it's not _not _important, but it doesn't mean the planet will implode if she says or does something stupid," Angela said, speaking slowly and choosing her words carefully, trying to sidestep the mines. Alice looked like she was about to protest, so Ange raised her hand and held up a finger to silence her. "That being said, though," she turned to me now, "there are certain things that _will_ dig you a grave if said in front of Mike's parents."

"What," I said, smiling at the prospect I thought she was describing, "You mean saying something like, 'Wow, Mr Newton, your son is really great in bed. Are you just as good?'"

Angela cracked up laughing and Alice's face flickered into a smile before she carefully pulled her features back into a scowl. I knocked Alice playfully in the arm as the corners of her mouth involuntarily curved up, and locked my arm around her shoulders so I could steer her back towards classes. Angela wiped a tear from her eye and skipped up beside Alice as we headed for the building courtyard.

"That's definitely some things you shouldn't say, Bella," Angela pointed out, "but there are other, less obvious things that shouldn't be said near parents. I think we need to educate you on this, don't we, Alice?"

Alice had shrugged free of my arm so she was uninhibited to nod defiantly with Angela. I rolled my eyes. Again.

"So how are you going to cram this vital information into my brain by tomorrow night?"

"Oooooh!!" Angela cried, and I remembered that she didn't know about the time of the dinner. "That's so cute! Can we come?"

Alice smacked her in the arm and she rubbed it as she mumbled, "I guess that means no…" She plopped down on a bench and swung her bag between her feet. Alice and I followed her example, but I pulled my bag onto my knees and Alice balanced hers on her feet while she leaned back on the seat.

"Hey!" Alice suddenly yelled, practically punching my closest eardrum with the noise. "I have an idea," she went on; hushing her voice once she realised some people had turned around in alarm.

"What?" Angela asked in a mock bored voice to irritate Alice. It didn't deter her.

"Well," she turned to Angela, "since I was coming to your place this weekend anyway, maybe we could spend part of our Saturday with Bella to teach her the essentials of the Meet the Parents game!"

I scoffed, and expected Angela to do the same, but she didn't. When I brushed the hair out of my eyes that had landed there after my giggle, I saw that Angela's expression suggested she was actually considering the idea, and was getting more and more excited about it with every passing second. As I watched in a slightly horrified, stunned state, she started nodding at Alice, who nodded back, and they shook hands.

"Guys, come on," I spluttered, shocked at what I knew I was going to be subjected to tomorrow if this went ahead.

Alice dropped her bag on the ground, spun around to be sitting on my other side and half-kneeled while giving me a look which was meant to be irresistible. I laughed nervously when I saw Angela's face was the same. The continued to stare at me, Alice eyeing my clothes in a way I'd learned to recognise. She flicked Angela a knowing look, and I almost flipped out.

"No, no, no, no, no," I started chanting, and as I stood and backed away from them I realised that they were planning more than just a makeover of my _manners_-

"Pleeeease Bella?" Alice held her hands in front of her like a prayer. Angela had an amused expression on her face but was making me back up too (and blocking my usual escape route for situations such as these). I felt my back hit the wall of the cafeteria and I knew I was lost.

I decided caving now was a better idea than being pursued for the remainder of the day between classes – so I sighed and looked at the ground as I mumbled coherently enough, "Fine."

If Alice had punched _my eardrum_ with her _shout_, she'd just _popped_ my _eardrum's eardrum_ with her squeal of delight at an easy victory. Angela looked slightly apologetic, but not enough to switch sides. I pushed through them both while Alice jumped up and down on the spot, clapping her hands together and continually squealing with happiness.

Once my bag was over my shoulder, I turned toward my first lesson, sparing only a glance over my shoulder long enough to see that Angela was physically trying to hold Alice down. I smiled, a usual reaction, but forced it off my face as I remembered what I was going to have to live through tomorrow.

"Hey gorgeous," a cute voice said into my ear as his arm caught my waist. I giggled and looked up into his face.

"Hello there, Mr Captain of the Badminton Team, you know we're going to have to keep this little thing we've got going on a secret, my boyfriend can get a little jealous sometimes." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. His skin was a little rough, just the way I liked it, and he smelt of warm cinnamon buns.

"He can come too, if you like," he said, and I could hear the laugh threatening to break out in his voice. I laughed and gently hit him in the shoulder with my free hand, and his response was to pull me a little closer against his side.

We strolled into the cafeteria, immediately spotting Emmett's massive form at our usual table.

"I'll grab your something to eat, Bella. Save me a seat," Mike said as he dodged his way through an opening and slid into the canteen line. I looked away once he was lost in the unusually large throng of people jostling around the counter, and crossed the room to our table.

"Only three times today, Bella," Emmett commented as I took my place beside Alice. Angela and he were sandwiching Rosalie, who was giggling profusely and making half-hearted attempts to free herself from the squash. Alice was making a little man out of various items of food left over from everyone's trays.

"What?" I said, rubbing my side as I reached for a piece of bread Alice was flattening into a t-shirt shape.

He laughed and leaned away from Rose, who fell shaking with laugher into his arms. "Three times," he repeated, now tickling Rosalie with one hand and stopping her escape with the other. The blank look on my face must have prompted him for more information, because he said, "You only tripped three times on your way over here today. Good effort," he commented before he had to pin Rose's hands to her sides – she'd worked out that he was ticklish too.

Just then someone jabbed me sharply in the sides and I yelped with surprise. "That was quick, Mike, I didn't think-" but then I stopped, seeing that it wasn't Mike who'd given me the rib-stab. And it certainly _felt_ like a stab, my sides were beginning to bruise, I was sure.

Angela snapped out of whatever she was thinking about and saw the intruder behind me. "What do _you_ want, Black?" she snarled with more venom than I thought was possible from a sweet character like herself. I then remembered that he'd once tried to take it too far with her at a party when he was drunk, and though she usually forgave people, she would only forgive those who were actually _sorry_.

Jacob smiled innocently at her and directed his attention back to me. I felt Alice twist around in her seat and cross her arms at him.

"I was just wondering," he said, leaning down much too close for comfort, "if you'd thought about my offer yesterday."

It took me a moment to remember what he was talking about, because his overly-warm breath had hit me full in the face and by squinting out of the way of the air I'd almost stopped listening. Fortunately Alice spoke for me before he could assume I'd been dazzled by his 'good-looks' or something.

"She thought that as long as she didn't have to have any kind of contact with you, she'd be there. And she'd also bring all her friends." Alice turned to everyone else at the table and winked, encouraging them to play along. Emmett and Angela immediately murmured comments like 'oh, yeah', 'definitely' and 'wouldn't miss it' but Rosalie blurted an obvious "What?"

Emmett distracted her in a way that only Emmett could before she said something else that'd break the plan.

"Is that okay with you?" I said sarcastically to Jacob once I was sure Rosalie was 'busy'.

He leaned down to me again, but I stood my ground and tried very hard not to gag at his wood-land breath. "As long as you're happy, I'm happy." I took a great breath in through my nose and looked him in the eye, waiting for the rest of his parting 'speech'. "So you'll be there?"

I almost – for want of a better word – buckled. He looked so unexpectedly vulnerable when the sentence escaped his lips that I almost, _almost_ reached up and hugged him as an effort to make it all better. In that fleeting moment, I remembered the laughing, the crying, the tree-climbing, the scratches and scars and tender moment's only children could share that I'd had with Jacob when we were little.

Charlie and Billy were still the best of friends, but Jacob and I had completely grown apart – or Jacob had grown away from me. Once high school had started, and Jacob had met Jasper Whitlock and James Varner, he'd become a different person. I knew I would have to choose between going with the Jacob I no longer knew, or keeping true to myself and consequentially ending up on opposite sides of a socially-defined line.

I snapped back into reality and realised that the Jacob I no longer knew had returned as soon as he'd left, and I was looking up into the face of a stranger. Oddly, however, part of me still wanted to reach up and comfort him.

"Yeah," I said quietly, looking down at the linoleum floor. "We'll be there."

"But don't expect to actually _see_ us," Alice interjected sharply as Jacob turned and headed back to his side of the line. He didn't turn at Alice's comment; she may as well have been totally silent for all he cared.

I took a deep breath and swung back to the table, feeling a joint in my back painlessly click as I did so. Alice, who had been reminded of the masquerade, started chattering happily to Angela about everything she knew. Angela's questions and Alice's voice faded into the background as I turned around in my seat.

I looked to the rowdiest table in the cafeteria. Jacob sat there with Jasper and Varner – as I liked to call him – throwing pieces of food at passing students and laughing raucously as one knocked someone's drink over and it spilled down their front. Each of the three boys were sitting at the table on benches, and the four girls accompanying them assumed different places around the table. Victoria; the nasty girl from gym class, was sitting across James' lap and was feeding him some kind of cake or desert or something. As I watched, Victoria got a little on his cheek and she gently kissed it away for him. It would have been described as sweet had he not slapped her on the butt and pulled her in for a rough pash, her giggling stupidly all the while. Beside the two of them, who were occupying a fair portion of one of the benches, was Lauren Mallory. She was carefully perched cross-legged and was talking to Tanya Denal, who was sitting with her knees crossed on the edge of the table.

Tanya was a bit of a mystery to me. I didn't really know why she was part of that group; she seemed nice enough when she was on her own. But, I supposed, they were all like that. They were just a bad influence on each other, and that was what tied them together. Excluding Lauren, of course. She was horrid in every right and belonged solely in the centre of that group.

Across the table were Jasper and Jake. Jasper was eyeing a group of computer-geek types approaching their table (in a way which indicated they were completely unaware of the line they were dangerously close to crossing) and had an eyebrow raised in a scheming way. He leaned back to Jacob, who was digging apart an apple with his fingernails. He said something behind his hand and Jake started laughing and nodding at the same time. He looked at the geeks in the same way Jasper was, then clasped one hand around the apple, tapped Jasper on the shoulder and Jasper automatically ducked out of the way. I didn't know what they were doing before I realised Jake's hand was rising into the air, pulling back and flicking forward to toss the apple at the approaching innocents.

The apple spun through the air, little pieces of fingernail dug skin flying off randomly, and then it struck its target. The tray the poor kid had been carrying vibrated violently at the impact, the front of it slamming up into the owner's chest and forcing all breakables to break and squelch down the front of his carefully ironed shirt.

It would have been funny had that kid not been the same one I _knew_ had graciously helped Jake with his English work two weeks ago, and it would have been funny had I had no sense of humour nor decency. However, those lacking the latter laughed like they were on drugs, their hands slamming down on the table top and clutching to each other for support as they tried to stay vertical.

The guy who was the butt of the joke peeled his tray away from his body and looked down at the mess. One of the people behind him – who had been shielded by his generous frame – kindly handed him a wad of napkins and pointed out the toilets. His glasses had been smeared with puree of mango and peaches. I watched with a level of pride rivalling that of a mother on Performance Night as another of the group lead the Shield away from the growing laughs echoing around the cafeteria. The scrawyny, glasses clad boy (who reminded me of an underfed Harry Potter) ensured the guy wouldn't fall on his way, and kept his eyes peeled for copy-cat attacks.

So there was still some kind of civility in the world.

I turned back to my table, instinctively reaching for a drink. My fingers clutched air, and I realised Mike wasn't back yet. Then, like he'd heard my thoughts, Mike appeared at my side and sat the tray of food in front of me.

I started to protest when Alice seized one of the two apples on the tray, but she silenced me with a look. Without a word, she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and wrote something down, then scanned my tray again. She yanked a lollipop I hadn't noticed from between a bun and a bottle of lemonade and twirled it in her fingers for a moment. I watched as she held the apple in one hand, pushed the note up next to it and shoved the stem of the lollipop through them both, pinning the paper to the fruit.

Mike had noticed now, and he opened his mouth to protest about the money he'd spent on those things when Alice said, "Wait and see," in a mysterious voice which was very difficult to argue against.

She twisted around in her seat and made sure there was a clear path to Jasper's table, and then she lobbed it over towards them. I heard it 'thunk' onto the table then the barely-muffled swear as someone noticed its presence.

"Give it here," I heard Jake's voice scold. There was utter silence from all members of the table before Jasper said "What does it say?" and I expected Jake must have handed it to him, because Jasper swore and said, "Where did this come from?"

"Dunno," James' voice came, softer than the others; "It just appeared out of nowhere."

Jasper 'tsk'ed at him at must have looked around, because then he said, "I bet it was those geeks."

I looked sharply at Alice, who obviously hadn't considered this in her brilliant plan, and saw that her face was bone white. "Dammit," she muttered. I could tell she was battling in her mind whether it was better to go over there and fess up, or to see where it went.

My head snapped back around when I heard a scraping of wood on linoleum and Jake's voice muttering barely audibly, "Sit down you idiot, it couldn't have been them, they all went to the toilet together…"

"Well whoever it was will pay." Jasper sounded like he meant it.

Alice looked fairly satisfied now. She pulled the bread roll off mine and Mike's shared lunch tray, and started picking at it. I was reminded of the food's presence and pulled one of the remaining lollipops off to bury it in my pocket. Mike reached for the salad roll and I seized a fork to start pushing the pasta around its little foil plate.

"Alice," I said once I'd eaten nearly half the lasagne-resembling dish, "what was on that note?"

She looked up from the pieces of bread scattered around her hands. "I wrote 'heartless' on there."

I gasped. Even for someone as horrid as _Jasper_, that was harsh. "Geez, Alice," I said, looking at Mike to see if he agreed with me. His face was so shocked I was surprised he realised I was looking at him. "Don't you think that was a little ruthless of you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Not really. He calls me _Anna_, after all."

"What does that mean, by the way?" Emmett piped up, apparently picking up some of Rosalie's earlier blonde genes.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Seriously Emmett, you need to get out more. 'Anna' is short for 'anorexic', because Jasper is an insensitive twit."

"Oh," Emmett said, nodding in comprehension. He looked up at Alice with another question. "Would you mind if I beat his face into the floor?" He may have been asking if he could have a packet of chewing gum for the tone he used. I was a little taken aback.

Alice seemed indifferent to the bizarre phrasing. "Not today Emmett, I'd like to be the first to 'beat his face into the dirt', if you don't mind. But if he's stupid enough to start something with you," she said with a smile, "feel free to rearrange his face on my behalf, brother."

Emmett smiled happily and lifted Rose off his knees in triumph. "Consider it done, sister."

Once Rosalie contained her love-struck giggles, she turned to Emmett in an effort to regain his attention. "So where were you going to take me on that date you mentioned?"

I was suddenly reminded of my Saturday night prospect plans with Mike and his parents. I stabbed the fork into the now-congealed pasta and turned to Mike, who was just shoving the remains of his sandwich into his mouth. His cheeks were bulging and he smiled stupidly at me when I started to say his name.

I grinned at his puffer-fish face and started again. "Mike, I was talking to Charlie last night and he mentioned that maybe it was time you and your parents came over for dinner. Are you busy tomorrow night?"

He chewed for another few seconds before swallowing thickly, but the glint in his eye had me convinced of his positive answer before the words escaped his mouth.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. I played dumb for the sake of it.

"You _are_ busy?" I asked, faking a crestfallen look. "How unfortunate. I was looking forward to it and everything, Charlie's going to be devastated…"

I looked up at him and tried to look saddened, but the corners of my mouth pulled up when I saw the confusion in his face. I laughed.

"You're truly an evil little angel, you know that?"

"Yup," I laughed in his arms. He kissed the top of my head.

"I'll be there," he said, letting go of me. I wormed around in my seat to see his face. "What time?"

I hadn't considered times. But Charlie and I usually ate at about seven, seven-thirty… "How does six-thirty sound?"

"Perfect." He climbed out of his seat and offered me a hand as I followed him up. The bell was still chiming as I righted myself. "So what's the dress code?" he asked as we got to the doors. He pulled me to the side so we wouldn't be swept away by the tide of students heading off to classes.

I punched him in the arm lightly. "Very funny, wise guy. You know perfectly well that I expect everyone to be arriving in their very best superhero outfits, and I'd better be seeing some underwear on the outside of Lycra tights or _you_ won't be seeing a very happy Chief Swan," I said seriously. Mike knew better than to believe me, thought I did receive a few strange looks from unknown faces as they passed us.

"Well then, I'd better starts ironing out the wrinkles," he said, laughing with me. He looked down the hall as someone called his name from the stream of bodies. "I've gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow. Or this afternoon. Or after school." He looked up again with an annoyed look on his face as his voice was called, more clearly and loudly this time. I thought it was Ben.

That reminded me, where _had_ Ben and Tyler been for the last week? They hadn't turned up at any lunch chats that I could recall.

Mike's voice broke through my thoughts. "See ya, sweetie," he planted a fleeting kiss on my lips to which I was too slow to respond to, then he was gone.

I sighed and melded my way into the dying crowd of people heading for their lockers from lunch, still wondering about Ben and Tyler's unexplained absences.

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**Okay, that's the end of the sixth chapter!! Like it? Hate it? Review it!!**

**This chapter's question: Would Emmett and Sam be good friends if the circumstances were different?**

**Love you all!**

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	7. Control Freak

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**This one's for Jados, my good ol' buddy ol' pal, who requested this chapter be posted tonight.**

**Special mention to Kevin the Cornbread Slice- your review made me laugh; and LittleLil because of your Jasper comment. Loved it!! And to Rommy, who holds the record for the longest review I've ever received!!**

**Oh, and EDWARD'S LETTER will appear in the next chapter. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Seven: Control Freak**

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It was Saturday morning, and I wasn't feeling very sociable; which wasn't a good thing considering what was going to happen tonight at six-thirty pm.

"Charlie!" I shrieked, sounding faintly hysterical. I yelled for him again as I thundered up the stairs.

"What? What's wrong?" Chief Swan came barrelling around the corner of his bedroom as I reached the top stair. He had held onto the door frame to make the movement easier and almost smacked into the wall as inertia took its effect. I would have laughed had I not been under so much stress that I'd almost forgotten how to do it.

"Have you done your room yet?" I puffed, leaning back on the wall.

"Almost done," he replied, happy to have the right answer for me.

I felt a tiny sense of relief. "Come downstairs when you've finished, I need you to help me relocate those horrific school photos of me."

"'Kay," he said as he turned back to his room.

So evident was my power as the parent in any relationship that I'd actually ordered Charlie to clean his room before the Newton's arrived – which was in (I looked down at my watch, again) eight and a half hours. And counting.

So far that morning I'd cleaned the kitchen spotless, tidied my room, forced Charlie (amid many refusals and concerns for the townsfolk should he be called out on an emergency) to shove his cruiser into the much-unused garage to make room for the Newton's car. Oh, that reminded me, I needed to sweep the cement driveway before they came and had to dirty the soles of their shoes on the sprinklings of dust – wait. It's raining. There won't be any dust on the driveway. _Whew,_ I thought, mentally crossing that off my list.

I took one look up the hall and decided it could use a quick vacuum. I rushed downstairs and wrenched open the cleaning cupboard door, dodging a mop that fell neatly out of the stack of cleaning utensils, and started digging around for the vacuum cleaner. After only six or seven sneezing fits (maybe I should clean this cupboard if I have time) I kicked the mop back into its place and started pulling the vacuum cleaner up the stairs.

Once the plug was in and the power switch flicked, I hit the 'on' button. It groaned to life and started whining as I dragged it up and down the hall, distracted by my thoughts which were casting around the rest of the house, looking for anything else that needed cleaning.

I was hot and sweaty when the hall (and each individual stair) had been vacuumed, so I pulled off my jacket and whipped it through the door to my room. I then yanked the plug out of the wall by grabbing onto a section of the cord about five feet away from the actual wall. Luckily, it didn't snap off like it would on any other day, and I practically fell down the stairs to start on the ground floor of the house.

In the lounge, I was shocked by the amount of lolly wrappers and crumbed something's that had been shoved carelessly under the couch and into the crevices of Charlie's favourite armchair. It was very close to pulling myself up the stairs to scold Charlie, but decided it wasn't worth the effort and would take an unnecessarily long few minutes of my valuable cleaning time.

Instead, I roughly removed the cushions from the various furnishings in the room and started vacuuming with the hand-held extension as quickly as I could. I was just eradicating the last of the crumbs from behind the couch when Charlie stepped to the doorway of the room. I straightened up and looked at him for a moment, slightly annoyed that he was looking so relaxed, so I directed him with the wave of a hand to start removing the embarrassing pictures of my earlier school-days from off the window sill. I noticed with a wave of dread that there was a fairly thick layer of dust covering each of the frames, and that there was sure to be an outline around each of their places where the dust had not settled.

So, dusting was next.

I heaved the couch back against the wall, and started throwing the cushions back to their places when a knock on the door made me throw my hands into the air in exasperation.

"What now?!" I grumbled, but would have like to have screamed it and let out all my frustration. Charlie looked over his shoulder to me to see if I was going to answer it, then turned back when he saw me trying to untangle myself from the cords of the vacuum cleaner.

When I was free I started heading for the door, but they'd already let themselves in.

Alice and Angela were standing beside each other, blocking the door whether it was intentional or otherwise, each holding bags and bags of unmarked substances. I spluttered when I realised what they were doing here.

Alice looked like she wanted to start straight away, but Angela was far more understanding of my current state of mind. "We'll set up in your room, Bella," she said while she headed for the stairs, Alice forcibly towed behind her.

"Don't make a mess!" I begged breathlessly at their retreating backs.

"We won't," Angela's voice promised from around the corner.

I took a great breath and organised the cushions again. When that was done, I started wiping down every reachable surface for traces of dust. The window sill _did_ have outlines where the frames had sat unmoving for the last – ten years, at least – and I would have to rinse my cloth in the bucket every few seconds for the build up.

Suddenly, a hand appeared at my side, and Angela was helping me with a cloth of her own. On my other side Alice appeared doing the same. I smiled thankfully at each of them, and together we were done in about five minutes as opposed to the fifteen it would have taken me alone.

"Thanks, guys," I said happily as we bundled the vacuum cleaner into its dusty closet.

"Is that all?' Alice asked impatiently. "Can we start out makeovers now?"

I hadn't missed the plural of 'makeover' in her sentence. Slightly glad that there was still more to be done, I shook my head, much to Alice's dismay. "The bathroom. Then that's it."

"Okay," Angela said, her expression turning to enthusiasm. "Let's get going then!"

Charlie was downstairs, making sure the couch cushions were in their best condition and that the television was still working. I was upstairs in the bathroom with Alice and Angela, Alice filing my nails and Angela playing with the boxes of perfumes Alice owned while I lay in the bubble bath. I'd closed my eyes and was imagining what life would be like in technicolour when Alice interrupted my thoughts.

"You're turning into a prune, Bella. I think it's time to get out." She stood up and slapped the file to her palm before turning on her heel and leading the way for Angela to give me some privacy.

I heard Angela exclaiming about Alice's extensive collection of scents from my room while I dried myself. I grabbed my dressing gown from the back of the door and wrapped a towel around my dripping hair, then stepped out of the slightly steamy bathroom.

The carpet felt nice under my water-wrinkled feet as I crossed the hall. Alice was standing behind the chair usually housed under my computer table, and was looking at herself in a mirror I hadn't seen before.

"You brought a_ mirror?!_"

Alice noticed my presence once my exclamation had been made. "Of course," she replied like it was obvious. "Your mirror is pitiful Bella, no offence."

Angela crossed the room from over by my window and steered me gently to sit in the chair Alice was guarding. I plopped down and stared at the incredible mirror in front of me. Some how they'd snuck lights in, too, and they were blazing all around me. The table my legs were hidden under wasn't mine, either, and the stacks and stacks of cosmetics and hair products on top of it were certainly not my own.

"Isn't this a little extreme?" I asked Angela over my shoulder. Ange opened her mouth to respond but Alice beat her to it.

"Nothing it too extreme for the Meet the Parents dinner."

I decided that the best idea was to shut my mouth and endure whatever they were going to be hurtling at me. At least Angela was there to moderate Alice, because if she wasn't I knew that Alice would run wild with the likes of hair curlers and face masks and body-shimmer lotions – I gulped heavily as I spotted each of the criminal items scattered around the table.

"Now, Bella," Alice kneeled beside my chair as she spoke. We looked at each other in the mirror, her reflection looking buoyant and youthful as ever, and me looking excruciating plain and slightly granny-like with my dressing gown and towelled head. "You're going to have to trust us," she went on, standing behind me and pulling the towel from my hair, "because we know what we're doing."

I looked at Angela, and she nodded agreeably at me. "Okay," I said, hoping like anything that this wouldn't turn out to be a disaster.

"Hair or face first, Alice?" Angela piped up.

"Hmm." Alice fiddled with strands of my hair while she thought. "We'll go hair first because I don't want it to dry when I'm trying to work."

Angela nodded and handed her a brush. I asked her for something to read while they were working, and she handed me the nearest piece of reading material she could see. It was Wuthering Heights, a novel that I could have recited in my sleep, but I accepted it and started reading anyway. I knew I would get lost easily in the pages, and that was all I wanted right now.

A while later, Alice's voice chimed "There," and I looked up to see the damage.

Shockingly, it looked good. _Very_ good. She'd somehow manoeuvred two smallish braids to start at the top of my head and extend side-by-side down to my ear, then curve and finish in a messy bun at the back of my head. A few pieces of hair at the front had been carefully blow-dried and styled to fall onto my cheek across my forehead. I liked it. It wasn't overly dressy, but it was dressy enough to let the Newton's know that I'd put some effort into my appearance.

"Make-up," Alice said, and the excitement in her voice was impossible to miss. I groaned and tried to re-immerse myself into the world of Cathy and Heathcliffe.

It was difficult to ignore them and read, however, because everything they were doing was centred on my face. I eventually gave up reading the book and simply lived through the scenes I knew would have followed in my head while they worked.

I was skipping the boring parts, or the parts I didn't like so much, so I was almost at the end when Angela said quietly, "You can look now, Bella."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes!"

I groaned again, and carefully opened my eyes.

Alice had, apparently, been restrained. The first thought I had when I saw my reflection was 'peaches', but it was a good thing. The colouring they had given me reminded me of the fresh fruits in the sunshine hanging off the trees, and the flush my cheeks would have had if I'd been running through the orchard with my best friends. My lips were a gentle pink, cheeks a warm peachy colour, my eyes had been left plain except for a little purple eye shadow barely visible at the corner of my eye to make my brown eyes seem darker; more chocolaty. Again, I looked like I'd put in just the right amount of effort into making myself presentable for Mike's parents.

"Now, for step three," Alice announced. I felt slightly more positive at her words now that she'd finished two out of three tasks. Three out of four, actually, if the relaxation bath counted.

"We decided that since it's you, Bella, we're going to let you wear your own jeans. But Alice went shopping especially for you and picked up a lovely shirt for you to wear."

"Won't it ruin my hair?"

"No," Alice said, swishing a blue silky top around against her body. "It's got buttons on the back."

I was about to ask how I was meant to get it off at the end of the night when they weren't here to help me but Angela cut me off. She shooed Alice out of the room and said just before she closed the door, "You've got ten minutes to get moisturised, deodorised and in clothing before we come back to button you up."

Their footsteps faded as they creaked down the stairs, and I turned to my bed. I decided to not beat around the bush, so I pulled on some undies and hung my dressing gown over the end of my bed. I pulled out a bottle of my moisturiser, ignoring the ones Alice had stacked all over the shop, and did my legs. I dropped the bottle onto my bed and reached for the deodorant.

Once my pants were buttoned around my hips I picked up the silky folds that were the shirt Alice had bought. I held it against my chest and walked to the mirror, wondering how it would look. I pushed my arms through the holes and held the back together with one hand while I observed the effect it had on me.

I looked a little older, I decided. The rounded neckline was royal blue, as was the rest of the shirt, and had a decorated bead patch at the point where my sternum was. From it the material seemed to fan out and caught in a bubblish way at the elastic band around the bottom of the shirt. It was a little overly-dressy for my usual style (I knew I would have been trekking around in these same jeans and a sweater if I was given the choice) but it seemed to suit me, and, more importantly, the occasion.

"Time's up!" Alice shouted as she barged through the door without knocking. Angela appeared half a second after her, looking like she'd just chased after Alice up the stairs to try and stop her from walking in on a half-naked me. I laughed at the both of them and turned back to the mirror. Ange decided she wasn't needed for the buttons so she stayed by the door while Alice clipped the things together in no more than a few seconds.

"Shoes?" I asked, looking down at my bare feet.

Alice darted behind me to one of the bags and produced a pair of plain black ballet flats. She pushed them onto my feet while I stood and held onto the back of the chair for support.

"Now, there's only one thing left," Angela said from the door.

I'd thought I was finished with, but no, apparently not. 'What else?" I said, exasperated.

"Perfume!"

"Oh." I should have remembered that.

Ange went to the bed to claim the bottles she'd carried in here from the bathroom, and produced three. Alice made me close my eyes so I wouldn't be swayed by the pretty bottles and I smelled each of them in turn.

One was a cinnamon smell and reminded me of Mike. I smiled and was about to choose it, but then decided that I didn't really want to smell like my boyfriend for the evening.

The second was lovely and flowery, like lavender with traces of wildflowers in it. I liked it a lot, but it was a little boring and sometimes overdone.

The third had my vote straight away. It was sweet, and reminded me of something long forgotten in a dream. It was smooth and velvety, yet soft and pure like milk. It was so intoxicating that I almost wanted to taste it to see if it could really was delicious, but stopped myself before I looked like a maniac.

"That one," I said, opening my eyes and pointing to the tall third bottle Angela had in her hand.

I noticed the name of the bottle while Angela sprayed it on my wrists and neck. It said '_Blood_ by Cullen_'._

"Cullen?" I asked, thinking of our principal.

Alice rolled her eyes. 'I knew you'd say that! Don't worry; this has nothing to do with school."

I smiled and brought my hand to my wrist to smell the lovely smell again. "Can I keep it?"

"Yeah, sure, I've got heaps of others."

I picked up the bottle and was twirling it in my hands when Charlie's voice was heard through the door. "Bella!' He called up the stairs. I went to the door and opened it, calling a "Yeah?" and Charlie yelled back, "Its five o'clock, are you making dinner or ordering out?"

I swore and turned to Alice and Angela, who were already shoving things hastily into bags. Charlie wasn't expecting an answer so I didn't give one, but rushed over to help them. Angela smacked my hand and ordered me out to start dinner, "Or all our hard work to relax you will go to waste." I hesitated, torn by what I should be doing and what was helpful, so Angela added "Move it!"

I took the stairs more carefully now than I had been all day and was glad to see that everything was still as tidy as I'd left it. Charlie had retired back to the lounge, thankfully staying out of my hair as I started digging through the pots and pans to make dinner. I was planning on a three-course meal so time was money as far as I was concerned.

Around ten minutes later I heard a lot of rustling as Angela and Alice dragged their bags down the stairs. I quickly checked nothing was going to explode if I left for a few minutes, then hopped out into the hall and helped them with their numerous – and _heavy_ – bags.

I called where I was going over my shoulder to Charlie as I pulled open the front door, and he called a response which sounded like "Okay". I squeezed my way through the frame and to Alice's Porsche, where I dumped the bags.

"Thanks so much, guys, I owe you big time!" I swept forward and gave each of them a hug (to which Alice kissed me on the cheek in parting). I was jogging back to the house to make sure nothing was boiling over when I head Alice swear big time.

"We didn't teach her what not to say!"

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**Like it? Hate it? Tell me about what the last thing you ate was!**

**Review :-)**

**Love you all!**

**-Shaps**


	8. Dinner

**Hello everyone! Oh my goodness, let me just say: WOW. You guys are incredible! 68 reviews, 59 alerts... And thanks so much to Child-Of-God13 and Intoxicated By His Presence, you guys are wickedly awesome and other trippin' words! I love you for adding my story to your communities!!**

**This is going to be quite a long author's note: so skip all the boldness if you just want to read about the dinner. Sorry! But I got so many reviews and stuff- speaking of which:**

**And the reviewers (who I adore!) were:**

**prettygirlnboyfriend07, Rommy, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, AlwaysAround888, Intoxicated By His Presence, chrissyhale, smile for the paparazzi, Child-Of-God13, Lupus, Princess-Tinkerbelle, MusicADD, beggingtobebitten, x-aly-x, xx Phyre xx, Vampires-Rock4eva, bedwardforever, Lianna Weschester, Jade.**

**Special mentions/questions:**

**prettygirlnboyfriend07 – you made me laugh with your review! Loved it! Thanks so much, keep it up :-)**

**Rommy – you did a very good job there Rom, your review was especially lengthy! Loved it!!**

**AlwaysAround88 – this story will be about 28 chapters, perhaps 29 because one of them is quite long. I'll add something special at the end of this author's note, just for you…**

**Intoxicated By His Presence – oh my gosh, I laughed so much when I read all your reviews! Hamburgers are yumm, by the way, I agree. Loved your reasons for hating Mike over Edward!**

**chrissyhale – there shall be more Cullen, I promise, very soon!**

**smile for the paparazzi – I'll try and make letters more frequent now :-)**

**Child-Of-God13 – nope, Mike and Bella haven't had sex.**

**Lupus – yes, sorry, I meant to write monocle. Must have been off in the clouds that day :-)**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle – lol. Your review made me laugh. Love your style!**

**Music ADD – yes, she's very adamant about impressing the Newton oldies. Lots of work to make the house sparkling!**

**beggingtobebitten – here's the next chapter! Don't hunt me down!!**

**Lianna Weschester – don't stress! Mike&Bella will be no more soon enough.**

**My Pen Pal chapter titles:**

**1. Crowd**

**2. Letters**

**3. Cafeteria**

**4. Reply**

**5. Party**

**6. Geeks**

**7. Control Freak**

**8. Dinner**

**9. Recovery**

**10. Forward and Backward**

**11. Twenty Questions**

**12. Carnival**

**13. New and Old**

**14. Masks**

**15. China Doll**

**16. Smile**

**17. Stranded**

**18. Second Chances**

**19. A Soul**

**20. P.P.M.P**

**21. Invited**

**22. Slumber Party**

**23. Caught**

**24. Morning After**

**25. Memory**

**26. Masquerade**

**27. Plans**

**28. Kidnapped**

**29. The End**

**Make of them what you will!**

**Oh, and note to everyone: if you hated Mike before, you're about to hate him more. If you didn't, prepare to enter the deliciously evil world of Mike-Haters.**

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**Chapter Eight: Dinner**

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I was doing my best not to panic. Really, I was. There wasn't even anything to really be panicking about, but my _panic-ridden_ _mind_ wasn't listening. Nor were my feet, which were pacing back and forth across the kitchen like they were trying to make a hole in the floor.

Charlie was sitting at the kitchen table, mindlessly humming and occasionally getting up to sniff happily at the food cooking on the stove. I'd resisted the urge to drag him upstairs and force him to put on something a little dressier than the chequered shirt and jeans he was currently sporting, but I knew that would reveal my serious stress over the whole ordeal.

Plus, if Charlie _was_ in nice clothes I'd have another part of my mind worrying about him getting a stain on them.

I straightened my shirt, again – as much as a bubble-top could be straightened – and was worrying about what could and probably would go wrong when Charlie cleared his throat in a distracting kind of way.

I had started going through the scenario where everyone choked on their food and died when the doorbell saved me from myself.

"I got it!" I said a little breathlessly as I changed direction and headed for the door.

I pulled it open to reveal Mike, flanked on either side by his parents.

"Hello!" I said as happily as I could muster without sounding hysterical.

"Hey, Bella," Mike said, a little abashed. He kept looking away from my face and I wondered if I'd smudged some of the mascara Alice had layered on my lashes.

"Good evening, Mr and Mrs Newton," I said over his shoulder to his parents. "Come on it, it must be getting cold out there."

"Thankyou, Isabella," Mr Newton said politely. I bit my tongue at the urge to correct him.

Mike came through first, and was wearing a neat maroon button down shirt with a pair of black pants and a black leather belt. He'd done his hair differently tonight; the usual spikes had been smoothed into a carefully casual mess. It looked nice, but didn't quite suite him. I smiled anyway and stepped out the way so he and his parents could come inside.

Next to follow Mike was his mother, looking manicured and made-up as usual. I noted that she was wearing an expensive looking dress-suit with a large chain around her neck and an even larger pendant swinging back and forth as she walked. Her black shoes had heels on them that looked dangerous. I hoped that Charlie wouldn't ask her about whether she knew the legal regulations on the length of stiletto heels during dinner.

Mr Newton followed her in and I closed the door behind him. He was dressed similarly to Mike, but had navy blue pants, a black shirt and a white tie which hadn't been done properly. The thinner part was longer than the thicker part and I almost informed him of it, but held my tongue just in time. He was also wearing a jacket and I had enough sense to offer to take it for him, to which he politely obliged.

Mike waited behind as they filed into the lounge after Charlie, who'd conveniently appeared at the right moment, then he followed after me into the kitchen once Charlie's chatter was audible and we had excused ourselves. Luckily Charlie didn't think parental supervision was necessary and he stayed planted in his favourite arm chair.

"Whew," I said quietly once we were in the confines of the kitchen. I dramatically wiped sweat away from my forehead and leant on a chair for support. Mike laughed at my theatrics.

"I know what you mean. You should have heard mum this afternoon, trying to work out what to wear." He shook his head, completely baffled. "I told her to wear whatever and I thought my eardrums had died from the noise she made." He smiled and shrugged away from the counter to hug me hello. "You look lovely, by the way," he added in my ear.

"Thanks," I pulled back and started checking each aspect of dinner. "I got a makeover this afternoon, you might have noticed," I gave him a sly look over my shoulder.

"Alice?"

"The one and only." Satisfied that nothing was burning, I turned to the oven and started nervously fiddling with dials. "So, you like it?" I asked, wanting to know if he approved of the outfit, hair, make-up…

"You always look great, Bella."

I smiled at him appreciatively, but his answer wasn't really the one I was looking for. I pushed the disappointment away and changed the subject.

"How was your day, other than the part where you turned your mother into a screaming banshee?"

"Pretty boring. I got some English done, but then I got bored of it and spent most of my day outside. Oh, and I worked this morning too. There were some crazy people looking to go camping for the weekend and they were asking where they could plug in their hairdryers."

I laughed and stirred something on the stove. "Any idea who they were?"

"Nah," he said, pulling out a chair and sitting himself down. "But I think they must have been from La Push or Port Angeles because a few were Indian lookers and a few weren't."

"I wish I'd seen that."

"Well, you might, if you'd agree to come and work with me." I turned to see him shoot me a cheesy closed-eye smile and I had to grin at his silliness.

"I'm a couch potato on the weekends, Mr Newton, and I don't plan on changing that status any time soon."

"Alright, alright, but I'll change your mind soon enough."

"Whatever you reckon!"

I looked around the kitchen and checked the progress of the pudding before I announced to Mike that we were going to be serving drinks and biscuits as appetisers.

"Cool," he said, moving to my side to carry anything I handed to him.

I dug around in the cupboards to find a platter or big plate suitable for the task, and discovered one after some searching. I tipped the boxes of crackers onto it then ordered Mike to line them up ("but wash your hands first!") while I unwrapped the cheeses.

He did as he was told and I plonked down a few pieces of cheese in the vacant areas a moment later. I found glasses and filled a jug with the first thing my hand found in the fridge before grandly carrying the lot into the lounge.

Mike followed me with the glasses balanced in one hand and the jug of lemonade balanced in the other. Charlie announced that lemonade wasn't appropriate for fourty-something year olds ("except you, of course Jenny; you're thirty-one, thirty-two now?). I internally gagged at my dad's attempts at flattery; then gagged on double time when Mrs Newton replied with a giggle that would have done Minnie Mouse proud.

"I'll grab some red from the cellar, eh Bells?" Charlie winked at me as he heaved himself from the couch and header for our 'cellar' – also known as the cupboard beside the dryer in the laundry.

Mike volunteered to help Charlie with what I knew would end up being more than one bottle of alcoholic beverage.

I headed back to keep an eye on the food with a quiet apology to the Newton's. I had been standing by the stove staring mindlessly into the food cooking in the bubbling water for a few minutes when I suddenly realised I'd given the Newton's nothing to cut the cheese with. I whipped open the utensils drawer and pulled out a cheese knife (thanks to Renee and her clueless nature as to what to get Charlie for Christmas when they first married), then proceeded in the direction of the lounge.

I heard them talking, and was anxious to hear what they thought of me, so I made the mistake of standing out of sight by the door and listening to them.

"…lovely man. He certainly knows how to charm a woman, Arthur, you could take a leaf out of his book sometimes."

"Come on Jen, you know you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I'd not have married you otherwise!"

Mrs Newton 'tsk'd at his attempt at sucking up. "Well, if it's true that a man is meant to marry the most beautiful woman he ever lays eyes on, then it's a sure thing that Bella and Mike won't be together much longer."

I gasped, but listened more intently, frozen in place by an array of emotions.

"Oh, Jenny, come on, she's not that bad."

"No, she is pretty in her own way-" I should have walked away at this point, my thoughts had slightly improved on the Newton's, but I didn't "-but she's nothing compared with little Jessica Stanley. Now that girl was _gorgeous_. Don't know why it didn't work out between her and Mike. I'd already pictured her in her wedding dress with that lovely Lauren Mallory as her bridesmaid…"

Mrs Newton's voice became a hum in the background as I remembered the short affair between Mike and Jessica.

It was before Mike and I had even considered dating, when I'd first come to Forks. Mike was sitting atop his throne of popularity, and girls just like Jessica were constantly throwing themselves at his feet. He had the pick of them, and chose Jess. It didn't last long though, there had been some problem with their 'spark' or something, Mike had supposedly told her that he didn't feel anything for her anymore and that he wanted to remain friends.

A week later, however, he'd renounced his hold on the popularity circle, throwing everyone else into social disarray (hence how Jessica, Lauren, Victoria and Tanya had ended up in the clutches of idiots like James, Jasper and Jacob) and he'd started being friends with _my_ people – for reasons that were now blatantly obvious.

Mrs Newton's voice drilled back into my mind as my thoughts thinned. "…I just want to know what he sees in a girl like Isabella."

I hadn't realised there were tears prickling in my eyes until I tried to blink to regain my focus and one of them slipped free. I hastily wiped it away and stepped around the corner into the lounge when I heard the sound of someone rustling the biscuits around the plate.

"Here, I forgot the knife," I said, but I could hear the falseness in my voice and was sure they could too. Mrs Newton looked at me with a stunned expression, evidently weighing up whether or not I had heard her little rant. I dropped the knife with a clatter onto the plate and marched out, refusing to turn around and say each of the nasty things I sorely wished to.

I almost hit Charlie when I rounded the corner to the hall; he had three bottles of wine in his hands and poked me lightly with the tip of one as he stepped into the lounge. "Excuse me, Bells."

I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth in an effort to control the angry tears welling more forcefully in my eyes. I turned to go into the kitchen but then saw Mike's back leaning over the stove and made a beeline for the stairs instead, intending to clean myself up in the bathroom before coming back down.

I closed the door behind me and paced back and forth for a few moments before leaning heavily over the sink. I looked into the mirror and saw my eyes had become puffy, and that a little mascara was running down one cheek. I grabbed a handful of tissues and cleaned it up as best I could, but kept leaning over the sink as I thought.

So Mike's parents thought Jessica was a better choice than me? That she was prettier, even? Angela and Alice had made the effort to come and dress me up especially for tonight, yet they still thought I was plainer than a sheet of paper. I was getting angrier by the second and the tears were welling again, but I ignored them. At least in here I was safe from someone asking me what was wrong.

A flutter in my peripheral caught my attention. Something like a moth was flying around the heat lamp I'd switched on overhead. I ignored it and stared back at the sink, my elbows jutting inwards at I straightened my arms.

Maybe Mike thought the same thing of me. He might have thought I was pretty but if that _was_ the case he barely ever said it. He used to always be calling Jessica an array of pretty words in front of everyone else when they were together, thought I knew it was more of a boyfriend/girlfriend _show_ rather than a _relationship_ since they were both so carefully watched by other socialites.

I took a great breath and look at myself in the mirror. There were three choices in this situation.

One, and naturally the easiest, was to wallow in my own pity and allow Mike's parents to badmouth me as they pleased.

Two was to act like I very much wanted to and throw a full tantrum at those stupid air-wasters and tell them exactly what I thought of them, embarrassing Charlie, Mike and myself and building a fairly horrid reputation along with the loss of my relationship with one Mike Newton.

Thirdly was to hold my head high and take it like a man – and do my best to change their opinions of me. The looks I couldn't change without surgery - or at the very least piles and piles of makeup, but the personality could easily be built upon. If they thought Jessica was pretty enough for Mike, then I was going to make them see that I was matched to Mike with more than just looks (or lack thereof).

Option three, here I come.

Feeling determined, I wiped away the traces of black creeping down my cheeks and fluffed my bun a little before stepping out the door and heading back down the stairs.

"Bella!" Mike called from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" I called back.

"I think the pasta is done."

Mike would either be polite enough or unobservant enough to not comment on my red and puffy eyes, so I felt no aversion to his call.

I dashed the remaining three stairs and only stumbled as far as the door to the broom closet (not within view of those in the lounge, fortunately). Mike was stirring happily when I entered the room, and handed me the spoon when I came over.

"Thanks, Mike," I said sincerely. He beamed and sat down again.

I checked the pudding to make sure it wasn't too far along, and then pulled off the lid to the Bolognese sauce and saw that it was ready too.

"Mike?" I asked over my shoulder, and he stood to accommodate me, "Would you be good enough to grab five plates from that cupboard over there?" I said, pointing at one of the yellow doors.

"Sure." He opened the cupboard and looked at it for a moment before adding, "Which ones?"

"The ones with the edges."

I heard the familiar clatter as he pulled the required plates out from under the others.

"Here you go." He sat them down next to me and I immediately start dishing out pasta and plopping the steaming sauce and meatballs in the middle of each circular, worm-like pile.

"How much do your parents usually eat?" I asked Mike, who was still by my side.

"Dad eats the same as me and Mum eats a bit less."

I looked at him with an obvious expression. "Care to elaborate?"

"Oh," he laughed, realising that I didn't know what amounts he was referring to. "About as much as you've got on that plate is what Dad and I will eat."

"Okay," I said, and handed him the plate. "This can be your Dad's. Put it there," I said, pointing to the place beside where Charlie would be sitting at the head of the table.

We continued like that until Charlie's plate was at the head, Mike's Dad beside him, Mike's Mum beside him, Mike opposite his mother and me sitting between Charlie and Mike.

Unwilling to face Jenny again, I asked Mike to call everyone to dinner while I put the saucepans into the sink and ran a little water over them so they wouldn't be all crusty when it came time to wash them.

The main course went as smoothly as possible. Mike and I stayed quiet for the majority of the time, thankfully not having to endure tales about our early childhood or any of the dreaded 'First Time' stories. The conversation mostly came from Charlie as he had more of an interesting life than the other two; he could easily turn an account about a stolen street sign into an exciting adventure involving masked thieves and a wild goose chase around the town. I laughed along with everyone else, but kept catching unreadable looks across the table from Jenny.

Everyone commented on how lovely the meal was as I collected the plates, and I graciously accepted them, assuring them that as full as they were there'd have to be room for Grandma Swan's famous chocolate pudding. Charlie nearly fell off his chair when he heard that.

He'd started recounting a story about the _good ol' days_ and the origin of the pudding we were about to eat, while Mike helped me pile the dirty dishes on the sink. I pulled the pudding out of the oven, pleased that it hadn't burnt, and started cutting portions out for everyone. Mike headed to the freezer without instruction and pulled out a tub of ice-cream.

"What?" he said innocently when I smiled at him from the corner of my eye. "I love chocolate pudding and ice-cream!"

I laughed and shook my head playfully as he mumbled something about having nuts on it too.

"Looks good, Bells," Charlie said as I lay his plate out in front of him. Mike's pile of ice-cream sat beside his pudding in a bowl slightly bigger than everyone else's – at his request.

I sat down and smiled as everyone started eating. It was silent for a minute while we chewed, then Jenny opened her mouth to speak and I was instantly reminded of her earlier comments.

'_I just want to know what he sees in a girl like Isabella.'_

"It's Bella." I said before I could stop myself.

"Pardon?" She said after a moment of rearranging her thoughts.

"Bella," I repeated, "not Isabella."

"But I-" she started, but I cut her off.

"Before, in the lounge, when you were talking about me to your husband? You called me _Isa_bella. It's _Bella_."

I scooped a mouthful of pudding into my mouth and carefully chewed it. I'd snapped my carefully composed charade, and I knew I wouldn't be able to reign myself in so I decided I might as well do the thing properly.

Mike was sitting open mouthed beside me; Charlie was looking thoroughly confused at the head of the table; Mr Newton had a spoon of pudding frozen halfway between his plate and his mouth and Mrs Newton looked like she was scrambling for some kind of way to explain away the situation. I decided to save her the bother – or rather, to dig her a hole too deep to ever be vacated.

"You said, _'I just want to know what he sees in a girl like Isabella'_, didn't you? I was sure that's what I heard, among other things," I'd managed to ask in a way that was so freakishly polite that I knew I sounded like a Stepford Wife. I smiled civilly and chewed a new mouthful of pudding, eyeing Mrs Newton's reaction carefully.

Everyone sat in deathly silence for a moment, shocked by my outburst of sorts. Finally, Charlie dropped his fork and brushed his palms together in a way which was meant to be cheerful. I knew he was just trying to take the focus away from me.

"Well, that was excellent Bella. I'm just about ready to turn in. Arthur and Jenny, I can walk you out if you like..?" Charlie stood up and left his plate on the table as he led them out the door. I could hear him muttering his apologies on my behalf as a rustling told me he was fetching Mr Newton's coat for him. I stayed at the table and ate my food like nothing had happened, and Mike continued to stare open-mouthed at me.

"What was _that_?!" he asked incredulously.

"What was what?"

"_That!_ You totally just insulted my parents!"

I turned to him with enough venom in my eyes to kill an elephant. _"I _insulted_ them_? Shouldn't you be sticking up for me and apologising on my behalf or something that a _good_ boyfriend should do?"

"Good _boyfriend_!" He stood up and ran a hand through his gelled hair. "I'm going to go before I say something I regret, Bella, so I'll see you on Monday. Or something."

He left without a kiss or hug or even saying 'goodbye'.

The door clicked shut behind the Newton's as they left the house, and once the sound of their engine rumbled away Charlie sighed in the hall. I pushed my plate of food away from me and held my head in my hands.

"Bella?" Charlie asked tentatively. He sat down beside me and put a hand on my back, just like I wished Mike had done. "It's alright Bells, it's alright."

An in an act completely out of line, I leaned into Charlie's shoulder and cried my eyes out. I felt the tiny bottles of emotion I'd gathered up in the last five and a half months break their little glass sides and spill over, washing the mascara down my cheeks.

Jacob had become someone I didn't know anymore, and it sucked because I knew there was nothing I could do about it. And now Mike's family, who I'd thought I was on good terms with, had inadvertently announced their second-rate opinions of me. Worst than both of these, however, was that Mike had been so embarrassed by my behaviour that didn't come to my rescue like the boyfriend I thought he was.

"C'mon Bella, I think its time for some sleep."

He wrenched me up from the chair and carried me to the stairs, letting me lean heavily on him as we headed for my room. I mumbled "thanks, sorry, I'll be fine" and Charlie hugged me before he pulled my bedroom door closed behind him.

I thought he might have gone to call Alice, and I didn't want her or Angela to see me in such a mess, so I heaved myself off the bed and grabbed my toiletries bag as I headed for the bathroom. I grabbed my dressing gown off the back of my door too.

After trying fruitlessly to rub the blackness from my cheeks, I gave up and pulled a bottle of face wash out of my duffel bag before stripping off, yanking the elastics out of my hair and stepping under the water.

I stared at the water-darkened tiles at my feet, feeling the rain-like drops hitting my back but hearing them like they were far from where I was. It was like there was cotton wool in my ears and everything was a little muffled.

I flinched when I saw something dark move on the tile by my feet. My muscles released their tension and I went back to staring at nothing when I realised that it was nothing more than a small, gray garden butterfly. And it was dead, moving only by the splashes of water coming from the shower head and dripping down the tiled wall. I stared at it, thinking that it deserved to rest in peace rather than spend the remainder of my shower time having its tiny body beaten by water droplets. I stepped around so I was blocking a bit of the water spray, and the butterfly started floating on the thin tide toward the drain. Just as the butterfly neared the white plastic of the waterfall to its grave, it fluttered. It was still alive.

My first conscious thought was to get it out from under the water, but my limbs wouldn't listen to me. I watched in a state of frozen horrified fascination as it struggled against the tide sweeping it towards a sure death, but still I couldn't move. It made its last attempts to hold on as half its body was claimed by the hole in the ground, but a wash of uneven water spray washed down my foot and knocked it down into the invisible depths of darkness.

Tears started to well in my eyes again. I nearly screamed when an unexpected sound came from the door.

"Bella?" Alice said, knocking softly on the bathroom door. I wiped the tears and drops of water away from my face, then twisted the old chrome taps around to shut off the water.

I was pretty sure Angela was with her, so I called, "I'll be out in a minute, guys." My voice sounded rusty and ragged, like I'd swallowed a ball of steel wool or had been a pack-a-day smoker for the last forty-five years of my seventeen year old life.

"Okay, we'll be in your room." Angela started to close the door but Alice's fingers shot out and curled around the frame, and she said "Take your time." Her fingers disappeared and the door clicked shut.

A while later, I wasn't sure how long, a detail registered in my mind. The water wasn't flowing anymore. I shivered, not realising that I'd been standing with water dripping down my body for an unknown length of time. I wrung out my hair with my hands and tried to ignore the thought that scolded me for dunking more water down the drain onto that poor little-

The towel felt nice on my skin, as did the flannelette dressing gown, but the tiles were cold and harsh on my feet. I dropped my towel onto the floor to make up for the lack of a floor mat and stood on it while I grabbed another towel from the cupboard and tossed my hair up into a rough bundle.

I took a deep breath, and prepared to relive my night as Alice and Angela would ask for the details.

Charlie hadn't gone to bed yet; I could tell both because someone had to have been able to let Angela and Alice in, and because the score of some game was being announced from the television in the lounge room. I crossed to the door to my room quietly, not wanting to make Charlie feel obliged in any way as to my emotional issues.

That's what best friends were for.

I walked in to my room, expecting to see Alice jumping up and down on the bed and Angela trying to hold her down, but when I shut the door behind myself and looked at them properly, Alice was sitting quietly in the middle of my doona and Angela was staring at the blackness outside my window from her place on the mattress beside Alice. They each looked at me when the latch clicked in the door, so I tried to be brave and extinguish their worries by smiling but the stupidity of the movement made the tears start up again.

Each of them rushed forward to throw an arm over my shoulder and guide me back to the bed before my legs gave way. I leaned on Angela's shoulder while Alice slid off the mattress and knelt by my feet, trying to wrench my hands away from my face so she could see me properly. I was being more stubborn than usual so she gave up and spoke to the back of my palms.

"Bella, whatever it is, I assure you that it'll help to talk about it." I wasn't budging so she added, "And if it doesn't I'll do the most disgusting thing I can think of."

My interest rose slightly, and I slid my hands away from my now extra puffy and red-rimmed eyes to see her. I didn't say anything but she knew I wanted more information so she continued with a smile.

"I'll ask Jasper Whitlock on a date."

Ange tried to stifle her giggles but I could feel her shaking body beside me. I reacted accordingly and cracked a smile. "Really?" I hiccoughed.

"Scouts honour," she said, saluting me grandly.

"Okay." I told them everything. How I was so shocked to hear what Mike's parents really thought of me, how Charlie had gotten them to leave because I was clearly upset – but then mingling hatred and devastating hurt was added to the mix when I got to the part where Mike had sat by like an idiot and had had the nerve to _blame_ me for it.

Alice and Angela gasped in the right places, growled in some others and even started planning torture at one point. I shushed them each time, but I could feel the black cloud lessening as I talked. Darn, I had been looking forward to seeing Alice ask Jasper out.

"So are you two still together?" Angela finally asked when I'd finished my story. I'd told them _almost_ everything – everything but what had happened in the shower.

"I don't know," I replied, shrugging. 'I guess we'll find out on Monday."

"Yeah, we'll find out on Monday," Alice agreed.

"Bella," Angela started, but I held up a hand to stop her, afraid that she would ask what _I_ wanted to happen between Mike and I.

"Would you guys mind sleeping here tonight? I'd like the company, and, well, Charlie isn't very good at being a girl."

Alice giggled and said, "Too right, he was squirming at the mere mention of nail polish the other day…"

"Well be back in a second, Bella." The both jumped up and headed for the door, satisfied I wasn't going to break down in their absence. "Give me the keys, Alice."

"No way!"

I heard them protesting down the stairs, their voices growing fainter the farther they went. I folded my legs up on the bed, thinking.

Alice had mentioned something about nail polish, and my thoughts had swung to my illusive pen pal, Edward. I looked around at the desk for his letter, where I'd stashed it that morning during my cleaning frenzy. I leaned over and snatched it up, unfolding it and reading the part I wanted to see.

**_Okay. This is getting ridiculous. Jared, there's lots of food in the cupboard. Go get it._**

**I'm Edward and I like boobies and wearing nail polish**

**_This is getting impossibly ridiculous._**

I felt the corners of my lips pull up in a smile at the words, silly as they were. And I couldn't help but wonder what Edward would say about my situation, even though I'd only received and written one letter to him.

Alice and Angela came crashing up the stairs again, arguing about who got the best pillow. I laughed and threw the note back onto the desk just before they fell into the room together. At the sight of their bags and even sleeping bags, I found a question forming on my lips.

"How did you know you'd need to bring stuff with you?"

Angela picked herself up. "Alice had a feeling," she looked at the little pixie, who was already throwing her stuff all over the shop, "that we were going to need it." She dropped her bag on the floor and unrolled her sleeping bag next to Alice's.

"And I also thought to bring chocolate!" Alice exclaimed, plunging her hand into her overnight bag and producing three extra large blocks of Edible Hapiness.

Angela snatched the one with caramel and started unwrapping it, throwing a row of squares at me.

"You guys are the best," I said between chews.

"We know," they chimed together, throwing more chocolate at me and – girly chick-flick style DVD's!

I was flattened a second later by a pair of bodies, then was so consumed by the girl's night in we were having that all thoughts of Mike, Edward and a little gray butterfly flew from my mind.

* * *

**Wooo!! Updated! **

**Okay, I lied. Edward's letter is in the next one... I promise I didn't mean to say the wrong thing, but I got confused or something!**

**To consolidate, here's a sneak peek at the next chapter:**

**"_That reminds me, I DO have something interesting to report on. This weekend I'm going to the interschool Athletics Day. I think our school's competitors are catching a bus with yours, if my source is correct. Are you going?_ "**

**Love me or hate me, you want to review, don't you? This chapter's subject: tell me what you think of Mike Newton NOW?**

**-Shaps**


	9. Recovery

**And... it's posted!! Here is it, the REPLY! Are we excited? I know I am! WOO! ****And, as always, the moment of glory appears for my WONDERFUL reviewers:**

**mrsjacobblack91, Intoxicated By His Presence, Vampires-Rock4eva, Lianna Weschester, anarchist-vampire, beggingtobebitten, XxBellatrixJxX, Music ADD, Child-Of-God13, bedwardforever, jennifier potter, Panda Bee, Princess-Tinkerbelle, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, goodbyeiloveu, Ghosts in the Snow, prettygirlnboyfriend07, twilightaddict26, chrissyhale, total-eclipse911, Michelle62092, pierce.me.through.with.sadness, x-aly-x, smile for the paparazzi.**

**Special mentions:**

**mrsjacobblack: haha, loved your review, made me crack up!**

**Lianna Weschester: you'll find out where Bella and Mike stand relationship-wise in this chapter :-)**

**beggingtobebitten: lol, I love the way your review was phrased!**

**Child-Of-God13: goodness, NO, BellaxMike in the bedroom? Eww much? Not a chance!!**

**jennifier potter: oh my gosh, so weird; cos if you're talking about the musical Wicked with those lyrics? I'm doing a song from that for my voice (singing) lessons! It's a strange little world we live in. And yes, I laughed :-)**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: LOVED your review. Made me smile for like an hour after reading it! (And you've now earned the First Place in my own personal 'longest review' competition!) The last thing I ate was some bread and nutella, yumm. Haha, Mike dying via a wooden spoon stabbing. I like it lol.**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: hahahaha, Mike being gay? So funny, great theory. (But he's not in this story, unfortunately, that would have been great to write lol)**

**prettygirlnboyfriend07: lol, you hit your computer. I like that my writing can evoke such passion!!**

**chrissyhale: haha, unlucky break there. I do it a lot too… eg, "Maths is the worst subject in the world! What, why are you looking over my shoulder? Stop giving me that look. I'm not falling for that again… Oh. Hi there, Mr Liebelt… so… have the computers in the maths office started working again? Heh, heh… Uhh… I have to go that way. Now. Bye!"**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Recovery**

* * *

Alice and Angela were nice enough to stay for most of the morning to keep me company. They pretended that they were staying because they wanted to sleep in, and I pretended to believe them. We both knew they were lying, and I was grateful. Though they were meant to be sleeping in, both of them were out of bed before eight and were throwing things across my room while _I_ tried to sleep in. By eleven, however, both of them were gone and had only left behind the wrappers of the chocolate blocks buried deep in my bed sheets. (Charlie had been feeling negotiable enough the night before to allow Alice and Angela to take the television from the lounge and watch some DVD's side by side in my bed.) Luckily for both my co-ordination and Charlie's back, they'd returned it to the lounge before they left.

I retired to the back yard once I'd done the paper on Romeo and Juliet which may or may not be due on Monday. The sun was touching my legs from its faraway place in the sky while I flipped through the pages of a magazine long past it's used by date. Thoughts from last night were starting to creep back into my head so I yanked myself out from the wooden patio chair and headed indoors to find something else to read.

I didn't feel like a romance – so I avoided the much abused copy of Wuthering Heights poking out from under my bed. I gave Romeo and Juliet a pass along with Sense and Sensibility and a few others I found lying around. I was digging through the drawers of my dresser when I found a birthday or Christmas present from years ago.

It was a diary covered with childish stickers bearing my name, and looked like it belonged to a six or seven year old. It had been made during the hype of little plastic locks holding it closed, and had a key on a string hanging off of it like a bookmark. I laughed at myself, thinking of the silliness of hanging the key to a lock from the locked object.

I wondered why I had kept it, so I flipped it open to the first page and saw the reason scrawled across the page. It was a note from Renee that I loved, one that reminded me of her at her best when it had been just the two of us.

Dear little Bella,

No matter what anyone else says, you're the best thing in my life, and the best thing in the lives of those lucky enough to meet you. Never let anything beat you down; never allow anyone who can't hold you to lift you up.

Please stop sucking your thumb, darling, it makes _me_ nervous when you do it!

I love you, more than the sky is blue and more than the sun is bright.

Stay beautiful, beautiful.

Love always, Mum.

I smiled at the note and flipped to the page past it. I'd never wanted to spoil the daisy-print pages while I was a child, so I'd never written in it.

Now, however, I felt like there was nothing wrong with spoiling a silly little page with some writing if it could just be ripped out again anyway, so I grabbed a fountain tip pen and headed back to the patio.

I folded my legs over one another and slumped down in the chair while I started to write.

It started as nothing more than a list of whatever words would come into my head, but before I knew it I'd filled pages and pages with my thoughts. I knew the length had a lot to do with the fact that my writing was astronomically big – it might even be visible from space – but there was still a fair level of emotion drenching those pages. I felt a little alarmed by my own thoughts when I read them back to myself, but shrugged it off and shut the book, clipping the insignificant lock closed. I hugged it to my chest and bounded up into the house, swinging aeroplane-style around the banister to the stairs and flew into my room, pulling the door closed behind me.

I pulled up to school the next morning feeling better than I'd expected. It was probably due to the fact that Alice had relayed details of her Sunday to me for so long that I had no time to wallow in my likely-to-be-single state; Charlie needed feeding and there was washing to be done once I'd hung the phone up. I was quite sure that that had been her intent, and I was appreciative of it.

The weather seemed to be in a good mood of its own, because the sun was still shining bravely from its home in the sky as I pulled my bag from across the seat and slung it over my shoulder.

Neither Alice nor Angela made an appearance as I approached the school buildings, and I wondered where they were. Suddenly, for what felt like the first time in weeks, I saw Ben and Tyler Cheney appear around the corner of one of the buildings. I called them and waved, to which they waved back, and I checked that I wasn't going to be flattened by a car before jogging carefully across the black and white zebra lines to where they were.

"Hey, guys!" I said brightly.

"What's up, Bella?" Ben asked, graciously leading the way to my first class.

I readjusted my bag on my shoulder as I answered. "Not a lot." The bell went overhead so I cut to the point. "Where have you guys been this week? I haven't seen you two at lunch for what feels like forever!"

Tyler laughed, but Ben went slightly pink and started examining his shoes.

"We haven't been doing anything illegal, don't worry," Tyler said, giving his brother some kind of look. "Ben here, he's just been trying to get up the nerve – OW!"

He was cut off mid sentence by Ben's wayward foot hitting his shin. Hard. "Sorry," Ben said sarcastically. "We've gotta be going, Bella, but we'll see you a bit later, okay?" He said all that in a rush and seized a handful of Tyler's jacket as he dragged his twin mercilessly along behind him.

I laughed at their retreating backs and turned my direction to English. I was pretty sure I knew what Tyler had been half a breath away from saying, but wasn't nosy enough to try and get it out of Ben himself.

I entered the shade of the cloakroom and paused automatically to hang up my jacket, but then remembered that I wasn't wearing one. My mood went up a little at this fact, and I continued into the class to take my usual seat. The happiness of my weekend had armed me with enough confidence to willingly face Mike, but he wasn't there in his usual place beside my own. Angela and Alice had subtly rearranged the seats so that my vacant seat had been saved between the two of them, and Mike was on the other side of Emmett – who was obviously in on it (or was being bribed fabulously by Alice).

Despite the knowledge that I _could_ face him, not having to do it just yet was a relief for me. My morning classes, at least, would be free of arguments if Alice kept the pattern up through gym. I sat down and dropped my bag by my feet.

"Told you it was today," Alice said, pointing at the board.

_'Romeo and Juliet papers due TODAY'_ had been written across the black board, and Miss Faulkner was sweeping around the class with a clipboard marking off the names of students who were present – and she was adding notes next to those names who didn't have their assignments.

"Why do we ever doubt you, Alice?" Angela said as her paper was taken up by Miss Faulkner. I pulled mine out of my bag and handed it to her as well, followed by Alice and Emmett on my other side.

I watched as Mike tried to explain how his weekend had been _too busy_ for him to finish the paper, and that he would be able to hand it in tomorrow… however, the teacher wasn't accepting any excuses unless a doctor's certificate and an encased limb accompanied the story.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Mike getting a zero… I knew that I had every right to snigger at his misfortune, but he was still my boyfriend, and the (for want of a better word) 'romantic' thoughts that went with that status cancelled out the vicious ones, leaving me balancing on an annoyingly sharp little fence.

Alice captured my attention then, telling me about her plans for something to do with Athletics Day, which I remembered with a small shot of excitement was this weekend. She'd started to whine about something to do with the close seating on the bus and the horrid smell of sweaty boys we were going to have to put up with on the way home when I randomly remembered something she'd said on the weekend.

"Alice?" I said, trying to break her stride, but she ploughed on valiantly. "Alice!" I said a little louder, and she turned to me with a smile. "You know how you said you were going to ask Jasper on a date if I didn't feel better?"

"Yeah…" she said, warily watching my face and obviously hoping like anything that I _had_ felt better.

I considered lying for a moment, and telling her that she _did_ have to ask Jasper out, but I knew that karma would come around and wallop me in the butt. So I went for the truth.

"Well, you don't have to ask him _two times over_ because I felt tons better when you guys left on Sunday."

Alice exhaled in a happy sigh; then smacked me sharply in the arm. "Don't you ever do that to me again! I'm too young to die of a heart attack, Isabella Swan."

I was reminded of unpleasant thoughts at the mention of my full name, but hid the emotion from my face. Angela and Alice gagged over the prospect of dating someone like Jasper for the remainder of the lesson, and I allowed my mind to space out, concentrating on what else was to come from my day.

Everyone around the room started shoving their books and pencils into their bags when I came back to reality, so I assumed it was the end of lesson. Angela accompanied Alice and I over to the gym, then waved happily as she headed off to her Geography class.

I could tell Mike was behind us when we crossed the basketball courts to the stands on the other side of the room, but I maintained enough self control to not look back. We were almost to the change rooms when I remembered something so vital I couldn't believe I'd almost forgotten it.

"Alice!" I almost shouted. She turned to me with an alarmed look on her face, but then went back to looking politely bored once she saw that I was being loud for no good reason.

"What?"

"We get our letters today!"

She looked at me with a blank expression for a moment, uncomprehending to my words. Then, recognition dawned on her face and her mouth formed an 'O' as she made the same noise.

"I wonder if we can get out of gym to collect them?" I thought aloud, getting more excited at the prospect of ditching a class I hated for something I was interested in, even if it was a once off.

"Only one way to find out!" Alice changed our direction and spun me around to head for Coach Clapp, who'd just entered the gym and was fiddling with his whistle while scanning through some pages on his clipboard.

His newest Nike pumps were looking ferociously white – making me worry that he would be making the class run just so someone might look down at _his_ shoes. I became slightly more desperate to miss the lesson.

"Coach," Alice said, trying to be persuasive just with the tone of her voice. I knew that once he knew who was talking to him, he'd let Alice burn the school mascot uniform if she wanted to. We might as well have been heading for the front office right now. "Would it be alright if Bella and I took a little time out of class to deal with some inter-school relations? It would relax our minds better so we could concentrate on gym when we get back," she added with a toothy smile. I was happy to fade into the background while she worked her charms.

The coach looked up from his books and beamed at Alice. "Good morning, Miss Brandon, so nice to see you looking bright on a Monday morning!" He puffed his chest out like he thought her chirpiness had something to do with his presence (or his shoes). I barely contained an automatic eye-roll. "As long as you and Miss Swan don't cause any mischief, you can take half the lesson to deal with these 'inter-school relations', but don't let any of the other students know, will you!" He added the last part with a secretive smile and wink. I tried very hard not to cringe.

Alice was containing her disgust perfectly.

"We won't be long, sir!"

She reached back and seized my hand, heading for the door faster than was strictly necessary.

"Nice," I commented as we pushed through the gym doors.

"I've perfected my anti-retching skills now, I think," she said in a deliberately bland voice, accompanying the word 'retching' with the action of pointing a finger into her open mouth.

We stopped running and concentrated on regaining normal facial colouring before we got to the front office. I was glad to step into the overly-warm office because walking outside, even in the sunshine, was cold on one's feet.

Alice knew exactly what she was doing and headed for the left side of the counter where a blue shoebox sat. She opened it but I could see over her short shoulder that it was empty.

"Don't the replies go in there?" I asked, trying to remember the little speech Mrs Cope had given us last Wednesday.

"Yeah, I'd forgotten, I think we have to ask for them…" She hopped over to the middle of the counter and struck a small bell with her palm.

Her long fingernails drummed against the counter as she impatiently waited. Finally, Mrs Cope came smiling around the corner, wearing a flowery yellow t-shirt. Alice smiled kindly at her and spoke before she'd taken more than two steps.

"Are the replies from Port Angeles here yet?"

Mrs Cope's magnified eyes surveyed us each meaningfully, probably trying to remember our names. "You're the big Brandon boy's sister," she said, pointing at Alice.

Alice nodded and said "It's Alice" before Mrs Cope's eyes switched to me.

"Isabella Swan," she said knowingly. I looked down as a compensation for an automatic eye-rolling moment. Of course she'd remember me: daughter of the Chief of Police, come home to a small town life with people who remembered names of people like me as thought it were an emergency number…

"Yep," I said quietly, shuffling my feet.

"Okay girls, I'll be back in a moment."

She disappeared out the way she'd come then returned with our letters in her hand. Mine was a white envelope with the same elegant writing spelling my name, but Alice's was a purple envelope and looked a little thicker. Once she'd actually handed them over though, I saw that Alice's was a _lot_ thicker than mine.

"Have a good day girls!" she said cheerily, turning her attention to a pleasant looking older woman who'd just come through the door.

Alice and I took a couple of the waiting area seats, and Mrs Cope led the woman out through one of the doors leading off from the office where students weren't allowed. But now I knew what was behind one of the forbidden doors, so there wasn't much curiosity bouncing around in my head. Just excitement, and unreasonable nervousness.

I opened my letter hastily before Alice could pull it away and open it herself, then ripped out the few pieces of folded paper that had been crammed into the envelope.

**Dear Bella,**

**Wow! I'm very impressed that you took the time to ditch class for the likes of me, I had to wipe a tear of pride away from my eye once I'd read that – I've only written to you once but my bad habits are happily washing off on you!**

**Sorry again about my stupid mates and their tendency to write stupid things on my letter. They were sufficiently punished, so don't fret, though I don't think Kim agreed with the killer bruise I planted on Jared's leg. Not that she'll admit to, anyway.**

**Now, I've lost my train of thought, so I think it's appropriate that I check your letter for any questions I should answer – Oh! You mentioned that Sam could break a tree if he got bored. Well, funny you should mention that, because the day before your letter came (Thursday, if I'm thinking on the tracks) Sam was dared to climb one of the "Oldest and noblest trees the school owns, a true gem to the heritage of Port Angeles…" blah, blah, blah, anyway, he tried to climb it. It was dark when he tried; it's always more fun in the dark-**

**Note to self, never say that to a girl again.**

**-but anyway, he tried to climb this tree.**

**It was pretty damn funny too, because even though this tree is all old and noble and whatever, it's really flimsy. So Sam got a boost up to the first branch and CRACK goes the trunk. It looked like a broken oversized toothpick when I stopped running to see what the damage was (I had time to spare; the other guys couldn't catch me to save their necks). It was possibly the longest I've laughed in my life.**

**Moving on to more interesting things- the next thing in your letter I can comment on is: "And why is it that you don't have a girlfriend?" Well. I don't really know why I don't; I guess there just hasn't been a girl who's caught my eye yet. How about you? Are you taken?**

**Oh, and no, I'm not a stalker. Thought I do enjoy watching people do stupid things – but that's just usually Sam and Jared and Paul. And a lot of the time, I was the one who told them to do the stupid thing.**

**So you're the Police Chief's daughter? Well, I'll have to watch my step. That sucks for Paul; I'll bet he was planning on asking you to accompany him on some kind of insurance scam at some point – milking my friendship, no doubt. As for me and my family status, I'm an only child, and I'm living here with my Aunt Esme and her husband. I'm originally from Alaska though. My mum back there travels a lot with her work, and my dad isn't around anymore. So I just found it easier to live down here during the school year and spend time with them during breaks.**

**And back to the letter – reading. Yes, guys _can_ read, and don't you forget it! I love reading anything really, but I'll only read those turn-of the century novels when I'm in the mood. Sometimes I blank out and completely miss a page because those things take some concentration to understand. Do you read them?**

**I've thought of another topic of interest – music. What kind do you like? I love almost everything, except for those heavy metal excuses. Screaming is not classified as listening material to me.**

**Your friend Alice sounds like a little bundle of joy… those shopaholic types are always energetic and completely crazy sometimes… I'd know. My cousin Leah is just like that. In fact, I think they're writing to each other, aren't they? I was sure she mentioned something about an Alice from Forks High.**

**That reminds me, I DO have something interesting to report on. This weekend I'm going to the interschool Athletics Day. I think our school's competitors are catching a bus with yours, if my source is correct. Are you going? That'd be awesome if you were, it would be too cool to be able to put a face to a name when I'm writing to you! I'll be competing in the running events; like I mentioned above, I can't be caught! Ha, I bet that sounds totally big-headed, but honesty isn't boasting, is it? Oh well. Please say you're going! Leah is too, so your little friend can jump in your pocket and steal away on the bus if she likes. (Don't tell her I said that, I know what a stiletto in the butt feels like, and how long it takes for the bruise to go away.)**

**Anyway, I hope I haven't bored you – or corrupted your gym education more than usual.**

**Sincerely telling you that I'm not a stalker, and hoping that you're coming to Athletics Day,**

**Edward Masen.**

**PS if you _are_ going this weekend, don't wear anything expensive on the bus. It'll end up smelling like (sweaty) boys for the remainder of its garment-style life.**

I finished reading and again had a smile on my face. I was also feeling completely excited – I was going to meet Edward after barely two weeks. Alice was still slogging through her marathon letter, a few pictures scattered over her knees. I reached for one of a pretty girl and a tall boy, but Alice slapped my hand away and turned the picture face-down.

"She told me not to show anyone."

She didn't look away from the paper in her hands the whole time. I frowned sarcastically at her, jutting out my bottom lip like a sooky child.

"No, Bella. I'll lose my head. Besides, you'll see Edward this weekend."

"She wrote to you about the Athletics Day too?"

Alice looked at me with a confused expression on her face. "No. What are you talking about?"

"Edward said Leah and him are going to the same thing we're going to on Saturday. I don't know about his other friends."

"Oh, really? That's awesome." She immersed herself in the letter again, but I didn't let it drop.

"How did you know I was going to see him this weekend?" She slid her eyes across the paper to meet mine.

"Do you know how annoying you are when I'm trying to read?"

"So stop reading for a minute and talk to me. How did you know?"

"I didn't." She was trying to brush me off. My hand twitched on my thigh, and I was considering slapping her a good bruise in the leg when she sensed my annoyance and explained further; "I just had a really strong feeling, okay?"

I sighed and lay back in my seat while her eyes whipped back and forth across the paper. Alice had had too many weird 'feelings' before for me to _not_ believe her. She was finished reading a few minutes later, and we stood to leave. As Alice tucked her letter into her bag, I got an idea, so I went to the counter where Mrs Cope was now sitting and smiled politely as she looked up at me.

"Would I be able to pick up Angela Weber's letter?"

"You're a friend of hers?" Mrs Cope asked, but she was already out of her chair and heading for the door so I just nodded. She came back with a white envelope in her hand a moment later. I thanked her and joined Alice, who had just dropped the photos all over the floor and was scooping them up with lightning fast hands.

"Need a hand?" I asked, bending to pick up a face-down photo by my foot.

"Nope," she said lightly, her hand flicking out and seizing the photo before I'd touched it. I straightened up and pushed open the door for her while she buckled her bag a little more securely. I chose not to comment on her further unwillingness to let me see these photos and we trekked our way back to the gym in silence.

I noticed with a little disappointment that the clouds were staring to coat the sky again, bring a cold shadow with them. I was about to reach for my jacket when we were suddenly at the doors to the gym. Alice pushed them open and we were met with sounds of people grunting and swearing under their breaths.

Boxing.

Well, at least that didn't require a lot of co-ordination… until I spotted a few people throwing kicks into their attacks. Everyone's partners were holding the bags still for them.

Kick-boxing.

_Even better._ _Maybe I can break a leg, too?_

We crossed to Coach Clapp, and I was praying he'd let us off for the lesson. So, naturally, he told us to get changed as quickly as we could and get back out to use the rest of the lesson wisely. We hadn't even taken fifteen minutes out of the stupid class, and I was still cursing myself when Alice and I emerged from the girl's change room, our bags back in the metal lockers and my dignity soon to be on the floor.

Alice skipped to Coach Clapp, hoping he'd do the obvious thing and partner us, but not even Alice's charms could turn his routine around.

"Each of you should find a male partner to practise with, how about… Newton! Tyler! Get over here!" He beamed at Alice and I and pointed to each of the boys in turn as we were paired up. "Alice, you can go with Tyler. Miss Swan, with Newton. Play nicely, children." He headed off in the other direction where Jessica was kicking the crap out of the bag Jasper was holding – and she wasn't aiming for the bag.

Coach Clapp was still breaking them up when Mike spoke to me.

"Good morning," he said stiffly. I just nodded in response and looked back at Jess, who was screaming profanities so loudly at Jasper that they were echoing off the gym walls.

"Let's get started," I said once Jess had been swapped with Tanya and everything had gone back to a state of semi-peace. Mike led the way to a blank space in the room and held the bag as I started to punch it.

"You're supposed to wear gloves," he said as he held them out.

"Right," I replied stiffly, slipping them on. I started punching the bag harder because it didn't hurt my knuckles anymore.

"Bella," he said, ducking an 'accidental' wayward right hook, "I think I owe you an apology."

"Oh, you _think_ so?"

"Okay," he admitted sheepishly, dodging a less ferocious left-hook. "I _do_ owe you an apology." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."

I stopped punching and pushed the hair out of my eyes.

"Really?"

"Really. I'm just not used to seeing such a different side of you, and I was caught off guard." He smiled nicely at me, but there was something a little off about his tone of voice and choice of words – why didn't he say straight out that he was sorry he didn't take my side?

"Okay. You're half-forgiven. You're going to have to work for the other half."

He smiled and held the bag up again. "I can live with that." I punched with less vigour now, but wanted to punch a lot harder at his half-assed apology. "Use your legs, Bella. Fire up!"

I did as I was told, and 'accidentally' knocked Mike to the ground with the force of a front-on kick into the bag. He laughed from the ground, and I put a hand out to pull him up.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side again."

"Okay. Don't get on my bad side again." He laughed and pulled me into a hug, but I only lightly hugged him back. I buried my face and tried to ignore the stupid cinnamon smell while scowling.

He couldn't _get_ onto my bad side if he was already there.

* * *

**Well!! We finally see the elusive reply from Edward. What does everyone think? Did you like the tree story? Haha. Anyway... you know what to do now...**

**Review!!**

**-Shaps**


	10. Forward and Backward

**Heyy!! So many reviews, so gooood lol**

**Here they are: **

**Michelle62092, prettygirlnboyfriend07, allyg1990, CrazZy-BunNy, x-aly-x, Fairy Eyes, Muff'Nbutter, Lianna Weschester, beggingtobebitten, Music ADD, Child-Of-God13, Ghosts in the Snow, smile for the paparazzi, mrsjacobblack91, Vampires-Rock4eva, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, vampiressuck, mari alice, Intoxicated By His Presence, edwardluva234.**

**Special mentions:**

**prettygirlnboyfriend07: hahaha loved what you said about Jessica, 'skanky hoe', lol!**

**CrazZy-BunNy: yep, that means Bella and Mike are still a couple...**

**x-aly-x: wow, having someone chained to a tree in your neighbourhood is like a million times more interesting than my story! Wicked!**

**Muff'Nbutter: you'll find out how Bella answers the 'are you taken?' in this chapter :-)**

**Lianna Weschester: thanks for your compliment about Edward's letters! I like making him all quirky and stuff, it's fun ;-)**

**beggingtobebitten: "and mike is still a 'insert bad word here'" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!**

**Music ADD: lol, good work, you're a poet and you didn't even know it! (lame joke, I know, I know lol)**

**Ghosts in the Snow: haha, Squidward, I love Spongebob Squarepants!**

**smile for the paparazzi: lol, your review was great, made me laugh for yonks!**

**mrsjacobblack: oooooh, you just _might_ be onto something with the Leah and Alice scheming together thing...**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: lol. I love that I can make people hate Mike so much!**

**vampiressuck: first off, aww, your username makes me sad. Vampires-Rock4eva! Haha.. lame... but I thought it was pretty good! Secondly, Mike's gonna be "thrown" somewhere in one of the later chapters of the story. Promise.**

**mari alice: aww, your username is cute!! I dunno why... I'm weird. Anyhoo, thanks for your review!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Forward and Backward**

* * *

My truck made a cheerful rumbling noise as I backed out of the driveway. I happily hummed a thoughtless tune while I drove to school, and found that by the time I had covered the small distance, the tune in my head was refusing to go away – even beginning to form words of its own. I liked the words, but knew I would forget the tune, so I pulled out the little diary with the plastic lock and daisy-covered pages and wrote down all the ones I could remember.

Alice started tapping on my window then, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. The unnatural silence in the absence of the truck's thundering had been ringing in my head a moment before. I swished the loose hair out of my eyes and smiled at her, indicating with my hand that I was going to be another minute, but she waited faithfully by my window.

"Alice," I said, rolling down my window with a fair amount of elbow grease. "Get in the cab, you'll freeze!"

There was a light drizzle swirling around her, and it was beginning to build up. The clouds looked threatening and as dark as ever.

"I'll be fine. The sun will be out in a minute anyway."

I shrugged and turned back to my little diary. I scribbled in the last words I could recall, then snapped it shut.

"Done," I said to myself, turning back and expecting to see Alice now dripping from head to toe. Amazingly, she was still standing in the same spot, dry as she had been, and bathed in water-wash sunlight.

I chose not to remark.

"Angela says 'thankyou again' for her letter on Monday. She would have forgotten it if you hadn't picked it up for her. I wonder if she's written her reply already. She'll need to hand it in tomorrow, because she won't be able to today."

"What?" I asked, climbing out of my truck and slamming the ancient door shut behind me. "Why isn't she here today?"

"She's going shopping in Seattle, Bella, remember? She's only been harping on about it for the last million years." Alice picked up her pace beside me as the presence of the sun didn't stop the drizzle of rain covering us.

"Oh." I didn't remember Angela mentioning anything about a shopping trip, but then again, I did tend to blank out fairly often.

We crossed the threshold of the school and shook our heads once we were under the minimal shelter the front veranda provided. Alice headed off for her first Wednesday morning class, waving her goodbye because a bout of coughs had claimed her ability to speak. I waved to her and stepped the few yards necessary to enter my Calculus class. Today was going to be more of a drag than usual; Angela was my only close friend in this lesson.

I hung my coat on the peg provided as usual, then stepped into the debatably warmer classroom. I was surprised to see Tyler sitting across the room looking excited about something and I was even more surprised to see him wave happily in my direction. Tyler and I were good friends, but such enthusiastic gestures were usually saved for his _best_-best friends. I checked that there was no one over my shoulder before waving back, then following his beckoning hand gestures to sit down beside him.

"Hey, Bella," he greeted enthusiastically.

I started pulling my books out of my bag, and placed them carefully on the desk while I answered. "Good morning, Tyler, what's new?"

"Nothing much," he replied, but I could tell there was something he wanted to say. I decided to be nice and coax the subject.

"Then why are you nearly falling out of your chair with excitement?"

"Oh, well, I guess something kind of interesting did happen." He stared at me meaningfully and I stared blankly back for a moment before cottoning on.

"What happened?"

Honestly, it was like trying to get information out of a five year old.

"Well, I decided to bite the bullet, and I asked Allyson out yesterday!"

I was instantly as excited as he was. Tyler had been in love with this girl for as long as I'd known him, and every time he'd come close to getting the nerve to ask her out someone else jumped the gun – or the opportunity passed him by in the form of Ben doing something exceptionally embarrassing in front of Ally.

"That's brilliant Tyler! What did she say?" By his excitement, the answer was fairly obvious.

"She said yes! We're going to spend all this weekend together. We're going to spend Saturday together down at the Athletics Day and then on Sunday we're going out for dinner and a movie in Port Angeles."

"Not anything too scary, though, right?" I knew I would have to rein him in, because he was very much like Alice when he got excited. I was surprised Ben hadn't done it already, to be honest. But then, apparently Ben had some plans of his own to be worrying about.

"Nope, soppy romance all the way." He grinned like a man who'd just won the lottery and I couldn't help but laugh at his contagious excitement.

"Good on you Tyler, it looks like some men _can_ get it right on the first date."

"Oh, no I'm hopeless; I've been getting help from Bianca on what she thought I should do."

Bianca was Ally's best friend, and I was surprised to hear that Tyler managed to get help from her because Ally and Bianca were usually inseparable. More-so than Tyler and Ben, who were bound by their blood-lines rather than choice.

"That's really cool Tyler, I'm so happy for you!! You have to let me know if it goes well on Monday, okay?"

"Okay. I can't believe I actually did it though!" He hit the table to exclaim his excitement. Then, he laughed like he'd just realised something. "This means Ben has to ask-!"

"Good morning class, settle down and pull out your books, today we'll be working on a new chapter of work…"

The class collectively groaned at the sound of Mr Varner's voice floating around the room. I smiled at Tyler and winked to indicate that I understood what he was about to say, and by the smile he returned I was quite sure he was going to relay the details of Ben's Big Ask to me when it happened.

"I'm so bored, Alice," I whined as we sat through a speech about a book we were meant to be reading in English in the upcoming weeks. I hadn't even caught the title of the book, yet I was still bored by the tone of Miss Faulkner's voice.

Alice nudged me in the ribs to get my head off her shoulder. My eyes snapped open, then stared accusingly at the bony girl as I rubbed a sore spot on my head.

"Then do something constructive with – oh, stop looking at me like that, Miss Faulkner would love to give you a detention for no reason and you know it – do something useful with your time then." She looked back to the front of the room, but I knew she wasn't listening because her eyes remained unmoving. She seemed to come up with an idea, because she turned back to me. "Write a reply to Edward."

Stupidly, I felt a small thrill go through me at the sound of his name. I ignored it and accepted the idea, ripping off the pages of my drawings from the front of my note-pad.

_Dear Edward,_

Much different to the last time I'd written to him, the words started to flow effortlessly. Alice didn't even need to prompt me with her three 'F's scenario.

_I loved the story you told me about your friend Sam, it made me smile because whenever I think of Sam I think of Emmett – and I know how hilarious it would have looked if Emmett was the one to have fallen out of the tree! He probably would have left a crater when he hit the ground._

_So you're a bit of a runner, eh? I'd like to see you and my little Alice matched up against each other, I'll bet she could kick your butt in heels any day! As for the Athletics Day – yes, I am going, but not to compete. I pity all those who would have to watch me try and play sport too much to do that. Instead, I got talked (e.g. I got tricked) into going along as the running team's manager. Hey, that makes me like, your enemy! Bring on the competition, Port Angeles!_

_I'll have to make sure Charlie doesn't find that letter you sent – he'll probably come barrelling down the highway to Port Angeles brandishing a shotgun in search of your friend Paul for these supposed 'illegal acts' you mentioned. Lock up your doors, kiddies! Ha-ha, I think I've picked up Charlie's lame sense of humour. Do you know he stole my alarm clock as some kind of practical joke the other day? I had to eat my breakfast without chewing it! And trust me; that is not a pleasant experience!_

_That's really cool that you live with your Aunt and Uncle – living with Charlie is something like that I think. He's not the 'Be-home-at-eight-on-the-dot-or-else' type at all – very different from a typical father! I like it, living with Charlie leaves me with a lot of time to spend with my inner child._

_Hmm… what else did you mention? Oh! Reading. I love reading! And yes, I do read things like Romeo and Juliet and Sense and Sensibility and all those types. I love them. And I read them because they're so different to modern stuff; not predictable and the genuine feel of love in a lot of them is brilliant to get lost in. But I do have to agree – the way they're written sometimes gives me a headache._

_Yeah, my friend Alice is writing to Leah. That's pretty cool, isn't it? Leah sent tonnes of pictures to Alice in the last letter, but she won't let me see them. Do you know why? I mean, what's the problem if I know what you or your friends look like? Oh well. Alice is a strange girl, and by the way she and Leah get along so well, I'd guess that Leah's very eccentric herself! Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course._

_Oh, I almost forgot your music thing. Alice's phone just went off beside me, so yay for Alice's lack of organisation with turning her phone on silent. The kind of music I like… well, anything really. And I totally agree with that heavy-metal crack. Who would actually want to listen to people shrieking into a microphone?! It's beyond me, it really is._

_I've let Alice know that Leah will be at the Athletics Day too, so don't stress. I'm sure they'll have swapped phone numbers soon enough that they'll be able to report on their respective lives every five minutes any way._

_Oh, and you haven't corrupted my Gym education any more – today English got a hit!_

_Looking forward to being able to match a face to a name,_

_Bella Swan_

_P.S. I don't own anything expensive enough to care whether it ends up smelly or not – but Alice, on the other hand…._

"Done," I said. Alice handed me an envelope. I accepted it without question before scribbling Edward's name on the front and then shoved it into my bag.

"Do you want to drop it at the office now?" Alice stood, making me realise that I'd spent my entire class writing to Edward. I hoped that it wasn't a tradition in the making.

I stood with her and put my bag onto the desk so I could shove my books into it. "Nah, I'll do it tomorrow morning. I haven't got any classes over that side of the school and it's too darn wet to bother."

Alice led the way out of the room, whipping her coat off its peg as we passed it. I followed suit, draping my still-damp bundle over my arm. We headed for the canteen, hoping for a little warmth if not a quick snack to accompany our morning break.

For some reason the letter in my bag made it feel heavier than normal, as if the knowledge that I had deliberately skipped my relationship status was something to worry about.

For what felt like the first time in weeks, I arrived at school with plenty of time to spare. I didn't run into anyone or have any unexpected conversations; nor did I get hit by a car – which was always a plus.

I pushed open the door to the front office and was hit by the familiar wall of heated air that accompanied the cheery staff. Mrs Cope wasn't sitting at her desk this morning, but there was a pleasant looking older woman fiddling around with files behind a desk when I looked up. She smiled nicely at me, then went back to her digging.

I stepped forward and flipped open the catch on my bag to pull out my reply to Edward. I slipped it into the blue shoebox on the counter top, then turned to leave, but found my way blocked.

"Oh, good morning Miss Swan," the principal said, catching my fall to the floor by the shoulders and steadying me as he stepped around me.

"Sorry, sir." I shrugged a little tighter into my jacket, my face feeling slightly pink.

Principal Carlisle Cullen was attractive to an absurd degree. Each aspect of his face looked like it hadn't ever stressed; there were no lines other than the ones introduced by laughing. If it were possible that he could get angry, he would probably still have a kind look on his face.

Unfortunately for the desk-women, though, he was married. The lady had been described as '…pleasantly good-looking, but not good looking enough for the Principal'. I'd heard the bored folk in this town gossip so often that it was almost painful, but I'd resisted the urge to become one of them by going so far as to ignore the available pictures or information on her actual looks. Sometimes I felt ridiculously proud of myself at this fact.

But the Principal, who had apparently only been taking the job for the past few years because he wanted a break from the world of medicine, remained a favourite topic among those in the town and I doubted he would fall off the radar any time soon.

"Have a good day, Miss Swan," Principal Cullen said as he headed back to his office, a few books and folders tucked neatly under his arm. He smiled kindly at me – making me feel completely stupid and blush more than I already was – then he stopped in the hallway to speak to the lady who was still rifling around in the papers on the desk.

I pulled myself together and dashed out the door before I could make more of a fool of myself. Once the door had lightly clicked behind me, indicating that I was no longer in the same vicinity as the impossibly handsome man and the flustering heating system, I took a deep breath and headed out to my first lesson of the morning.

"Nah, I don't really feel like it."

"C'mon Bella, this is our game! You just think you're gonna lose again, don't you?"

Mike tossed the ball of paper into the air as he sat beside me in biology. I rolled my eyes seriously at him, but then tried to cover up my unexplainable lack of patience by plastering a fake smile on my face. He seemed to accept it because he started pestering me again.

"Please?" He tried to pull a puppy-dog eye look on me, and it would have normally worked, but today I didn't feel… normal.

"Is that Ruler Tennis you're playing, Mike?" Ben's voice saved me. Ben sat on Mike's other side, and was leaning forward on his desk to catch Mike's attention. Happy for an opposition, Mike got up quietly and sat down next to Ben.

The teacher didn't see because he was helping someone down the front of the class who was trying in vein to explain a knock-knock joke to him.

As I watched, bored, Mike handed Ben a wooden ruler and proceeded to smack the ball of paper across the small space between them.

I sighed as quietly as I could and tried to turn my attention back to the scribble covering the front of the room. I stared for a good five minutes, trying to make out a word which I then discovered (to my intense embarrassment – but relief that no one could read my mind) that it was just the name of the day printed at the top of the board. Maybe I needed glasses.

A pair of dark arms leaned onto the blacktop in front of me, and I looked up after a moment, already knowing who it was.

"You know, Swan, you're not supposed to be moping about today being Thursday. It's nearly Friday! Which means it's nearly Saturday, which would mean no more school for two whole days."

"Thankyou, Jacob, I _had_ realised the day of the week."

He shrugged, and pulled Mike's vacant chair back to sit beside me. I half expected Mike to turn around and threaten Jacob to high hell, but I heard him cry in triumph as he scored a point against Ben. I knew I should have laughed at his child-like enthusiasm, but there wasn't enough energy left in me. I felt completely drained, and I had no idea why. I'd practically been bouncing off the walls of my bedroom that morning.

Jacob wriggled in his chair. He was probably feeling uncomfortable, I was sure; then he looked at me. I took an extra second to look at him, and when I did I saw my real Jake sitting beside me.

I realised, in that moment, that Jacob Black was only unbearable when Jasper and James were wasting air in the same room as him, or he'd been around them for a minute too long and it didn't wear off. It hit me just how long it had been since I'd spoken to Jake when he wasn't trying to pick me up or wasn't trying to insult me in front of his guffawing friends. I braced myself, preparing for something along those lines to escape his mouth, but I was happily surprised.

"How are you, Bella?" Some hair fell into his eyes and in his face I saw a small flash of the little boy I'd played in the mud with when I was little.

The question wasn't overly deep, or sensitive, but I found myself pondering my possible answers more than was necessary. A million thoughts flew through my head at that moment, and I found that I wanted to say the things that I realised were weighing me down. 'Well,' I wanted to say, but didn't, 'I found out recently that my boyfriend is a two-faced twit who sides with his insulting parents over me, and that he doesn't even notice when I'm obviously upset over something, I'm writing to someone that I've never met but feel like telling more than I should, my best friends are always there for me but I don't think I'm there for them enough nor am I any good at timing my entries or exits on the big events in their lives. Oh, and the fact that I'm opening up to you makes me think that there's more wrong than I'd originally thought, because the last time I'd told you there was something wrong was when we stopped talking to each other and I tried to confront you about it but you told me there was nothing interesting about me and that you were only friends with me because Billy had told you to play nice all those years. Yeah, so I guess I'm doing fantastically!'

But I didn't. Not even close.

"I'm fine, Jake, just fine."

"Hey, you!" I heard Mike's irritated voice snap from Ben's table. "Get out of my seat."

I felt irrationally irritated at his interruption; I might have just been on the road to redemption with Jake for all he knew and there he goes, ruining the moment.

"Alright, alright, don't get your knickers in a knot, _Newton_." Jake stood up, and with a smile that was totally _Jake_, he headed across the room to his own table beside Tanya. I saw her flick her hair and giggle stupidly at something once Jacob had appeared, and I inwardly cringed and growled at her. How dare she try and get her mangy mitts on my-!

"You alright, Bella? I hope he didn't say anything stupid to you." Mike looked fairly concerned for me, which made me a little happier.

I looked from my hands on the desk to Mike and back as I spoke. "He barely said anything at all. I'm okay." I smiled. Mike gently patted his hand over my own and started playing with my fingers. A moment after beginning to do this, however, Ben called as quietly as he could manage over Mike's shoulder.

"Mike! We're not finished! And I'm still winning!"

Mike looked slightly shocked, then he gave me a pleading look I recognised. I rolled my eyes like a mother who was allowing her child too much junk food.

"Go on, you can't lose now."

"Thanks, Bella," Mike swept a kiss onto my cheek then threw himself back into the vacant seat beside Ben to finish his game.

Even though I had clearly given the 'Ok' to Mike playing with Ben, I still felt a little abandoned at his choice.

I looked over to the board again and saw that someone had been shoved into the writing and half of the assigned work had been rubbed off. The class was steadily becoming rowdier, and Mr Banner didn't appear to be trying to quieten them down, so I sighed and shut my book.

I got an idea, suddenly, and reached down to my bag for the little Daisy Diary I'd been using as an outlet. The moment felt quite appropriate, so I scribbled down my thoughts and found that by the time Mike had returned with his tales of a tough game against Ben, I could smile, laugh and nod in the right places. The diary was becoming a rather important tool in my everyday life – but God forbid someone else should get hold of it.

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**Well! I updated so quickly because you all reviewed so darn well!! Tell me what you think's going to happen, hmm? I know you've all got ideas you're dying to express!!**

**This chapter's questions: What kind of a person is Jacob Black, now?**

**Love you all!!**

**-Shaps**


	11. Twenty Questions

**Okay, I know some of you might be a little antsy with me 'cos I've been off for three days; sorry, silly school and silly cycling camps. And now I have a twisted wrist too!! At least I can still (semi)type. So, I hope this chapter comes out right. And now, as always;**

**The Reviewers!! (As in; if I had Award Badges to give out, I would give them to the following people)**

**Music ADD, Child-Of-God13, smile for the paparazzi, CrazZy-BunNy, mrsjacobblack91, PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O., Ghosts in the Snow, beggingtobebitten, x-aly-x, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, jennifier potter, BellaAtHeart, Intoxicated By His Presence, vampiressuck, Muff'Nbutter, A - Mizzle, chrissyhale, joellen818, dollegirl.**

**Special Mentions:**

**Music ADD: hahaha multiple personality disorder, that's gold lol**

**Child-Of-God13: Ooooooooohhh, you might be close!! I like how you worked out like this whole sequence of events in your review, I was impressed at your clarity of thought! We shall see if you're right in shakes Magic 8 Ball ... 'in due time'... ooooooohhhhh!**

**smile for the paparazzi: YES! This is definitely a BxE!! No doubt!**

**CrazZy-BunNy: Fifty points!! Yes, Bella and Jake are becoming closer. We shall see how Mike and Bella feel about each other soon enough, don't worry about that. And Jasper and Alice? Well, we shall see, hehehehe (I'm feeling weirdly mystical tonight, has anyone noticed?)**

**mrsjacobblack: lol, Jasper wandering around with a shoe sticking out of his butt IS awfully tempting...**

**PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O.: You changed your name!! Love it, very sweet and (cruddy pun intended) "bubbly", hahaha, laaaame. I like sweet Jake too! (.)**

**beggingtobebitten: A change of schools for Edward? Quite creative, but we'll have to wait and see if it happens :-)**

**x-aly-x: We shall learn more about Jasper, but not for a little while unfortunately. And Jake, we'll find out about his and Bella's past soon. Patience, my dears!**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Fifty points to you too!! Your view on the bet is correct. But when does it happen, I wonder?**

**jennifier potter: Lol, Jake confuses himself, I promise. As for the elementary crack, you're spot on, it is silly. But sweet in a weird, weird way.**

**BellaAtHeart: Welcome to the 'special mentions' section! I hope you'll enjoy your stay... try the chicken, chef's special... Now. I loved your review! It was heaps funny. It was nice to see such enthusiasm after getting too little sleep last night (are campsites always so darn uncomfortable?!) Charlie and Mrs Newton? Hahahahahah, weird pairing, weird lol**

**Intoxicated By His Presence: hahahahahahahaha, "ahh well jake, you can have leah!" I've been trying to pedal that theory to my friends for aaaaaaages, but no, they wont have a bar of it. It would be awesome if he did, though, but he obviously can't because he's already seen her while he's been a werewolf and by the last scene in Eclipse; he doesn't tolerate her all too well either.**

**vampiressuck: Oh my Carlisle, I think I blew a hole in my lung while I was laughing at your review; how could I miss the double meaning to your screen name? Shame on me, shame shame shame lol. Thanks for your review!**

**Muff'Nbutter: this chapter, you'll find out about the Athletics Day in this chapter... hehe...**

**A - Mizzle: Ally, you're a crazy gal! Love ya. At the risk of sounding like an utter and complete tool, I shall try and decipher the craziness in your review; thankyou darling, I do love my reviewers!! They keep me goin :-) and I love answering individual reviews here; it's funner this way, and I can do them all at once. Plus, if someone doesn't care they can skip it and read the chapter!! Win - win situation, eh? The sequal's coming Ally, it's coming. I want to make it good before anyone sees it. And my readers have to want it too, otherwise there'd be no point in writing it, would there? A tree makes no sound unless there's someone to hear it fall, isn't that right? As for that Ally character, she's based on someone ultra-cool that I know... I THINK she might have an alias under the pretence of 'A - Mizzle'? Maybe?**

**chrissyhale: Very observant, you're right! Bella does miss Jake.**

**dollegirl: Thankyou for reading! I'm really glad you stumbled across this, cos now you can join my reviewing army if you like? Feel free to ask questions!! You have a cute pen name too, btw :-)**

**Okay, they're the review answer thingo's done. So, now for chapter Eleven. Guess what? BELLA AND EDWARD FINALLY MEET!! I know you're practically wetting yourself with excitement, so read on my lovelies...**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Twenty Questions**

* * *

"Alice, stop stressing. You look fine!"

I tried to tug her away from the mirror in the girl's bathroom, but she planted her feet and kept on pulling at the oversized grey t-shirt with "GO SPARTANS!" written in bold type across the chest.

"I look like a hobo, Bella, and it's all your fault!" She turned to me with a sooky expression on her face.

"Well, if it's my fault that you're running then it's your fault that I'm managing your team, Little Miss Brandon. Do don't come crying to me about being unfairly signed up for things! And on a Saturday, too!"

I tried to be serious, but couldn't do it. Alice's sulking face was just too funny, even if I knew she was furiously angry at her clothes.

"Why do _you_ get to wear a slightly more stylish jacket all day, when I have to wear this circus tent?!"

"Because all I have to do is stand around and yell at you to go faster. Now, speaking of which, we have a bus to catch. Get your butt out of here," I said, pushing her toward the graffiti covered door, "unless you feel like running to Seattle with me on your back."

Still unhappy with her outfit, Alice turned for the door and shoved it open with more force than was necessary for the old hinges. The door flung open and smacked loudly into the wall on the other side before Alice caught it on its way back and stormed out toward the bus.

When I got to the top of the coach steps, she was still searching for an empty seat. I noticed that there weren't many people on the bus; there seemed to be around twenty or twenty five - and most of them were occupying a seat to themselves. Jasper, Jake and James were draped across a few chairs at about the half-way mark. I chose not to look at them. Alice chose the same course of action as she scanned over the heads for her brother, who she could hear but not yet see. Someone sat down ahead, clearing our view, and we saw them.

Up the back I saw Emmett lounging across the back seat, and Mike sitting beside him with Tyler trying to tug his jumper out from under Emmett's butt. I smiled and followed Alice's quick little steps to join the three of them on the faded red leather seat.

Alice smacked Emmett loudly across the leg to make him move for her, then she smacked him again as she yanked Tyler's stretched jumper to freedom. He gave her an appreciative look before cradling the jumper to assess the damage. I slid in between Emmett and Mike, who was by the window. He kissed me on the cheek before accidentally catching me in a human sandwich Emmett was making between himself and the window.

"Ahh!" I yelled, sure that my ribs were bending in ways that they weren't meant to bend. Emmett just laughed, so I grabbed his arm and pinched with what I had of nails. He jumped a little bit, but was laughing when Mike unstuck himself from the window so I assumed I hadn't done as much damage as I'd liked.

"Hey, sweetie," Mike said in a sickly voice. I grinned and tried to reply in a similarly gushy tone.

"Good morning, handsome."

"Are you feeling better today? You were looking a bit upset yesterday, but I didn't want to say anything in case you didn't want to talk about it."

_Oh. So he_ does _have a brain… I just don't think about things properly before I get mad for no reason._

"Yeah, much better! Sorry about that. It was nothing." I moved a little closer and hugged him around the middle, to which he hugged me gently back. "It's still too cold today, though."

"Yeah, that's true. I wish I had one of those jumpers, they look really warm." He started playing with my collar.

I smiled and laughed, smacking his hand away and puffing my chest out officially as I said, "Only Team Managers can wear these, Mister Newton. So you're just going to have to slug it out on the field while I stay warm and cosy on the sidelines, yelling at you to get a move on."

The bus rumbled to life under us then, and there was a small cheer from the students. Coach Clapp rose up the stairs with a clipboard in hand and started ticking off names as he passed seats. Mike held my hand in his between us, invisible to anyone looking on from the outside. I giggled as he squeezed my hand in time with a heart beat, getting faster as Coach Clapp approached.

"Good morning, kids, hope you've all brought your school spirit with you!" Coach Clapp said, too much enthusiasm coating his tone for a teacher who was forced to work on the weekend. Mike's hand was beating in a pulse so fast that a real heart would have passed out from the effort by now. The Coach looked brightly at our faces as he ticked off our names, looking at Emmett like he was a star and giving Alice a shy "Good morning, Miss Brandon" before he turned away and scurried back to the front.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Emmett started laughing and tried to splutter words out to Alice between intakes of breath and outbursts of stifled laughter. "Did he _blush_ over you?!"

"Shut it, Emmett, if you appreciate the state of your shoe-print-less butt."

Emmett immediately quietened down, scared by the possibility of a pointy heel. I laughed quietly, because both Mike and Tyler had cringed at the mention of the punishment.

"Alright then, competitors!" Coach Clapp thundered through the bus's microphone. "We'll be picking up the Port Angeles High kids soon, don't try and maim them too much before the events start. Play nicely, children!"

I noted that his parting line was one of his favourites, because he had said the same thing when Alice had been partnered with Tyler, and me with Mike, during our kickboxing Gym class. The Coach scratchily put the microphone back into its holder.

"Alice?" I called over the boy's knees to the other end of the six-seater chair (five-seater with Emmett on it).

"Yeah?" she called back.

"You're going to talk to Leah when she gets on, aren't you?"

"Yeah! What else? Stare and admire from afar?" Her head appeared around Emmett's front and I smiled at her, seeing the hidden question in her reply.

"Yeah, not hiding and admiring from afar."

"Good."

A while later, the boys discovered a ball of rubber bands from somewhere so Alice and I claimed our own safe seat further forward from impending the war zone. Most of the other guys had seen the stupid display and were steadily sneaking back to join in, so almost all the seats on the first half of the bus were empty.

Alice pointed to a chair on the left side of the aisle, and said that she would sit there with Leah. Her reasoning was that Edward and me should get to know each other without anyone else eavesdropping.

"But how will I know which one he is? And how will you know who Leah is?"

Alice rolled her eyes dramatically at me, almost up to my own professional standard. "Photos, Bella, remember them?"

"Oh yeah. By the way, why didn't you let me see-?"

"Ooooh I think we're here!" She hopped up excitedly and looked over my head out the window to the unfamiliar school buildings slowly crawling by the window.

PORT ANGELES HIGH SCHOOL

The sound of exhaust breaks cut off every conversation, and the bus shuddered to a stop. Alice was somehow leaning in every direction, so I chose to stay in my seat rather than get a concussion from her elbow or something.

"Like I said, play nicely," Coach Clapp warned as the doors creaked open. Alice had lasered her attention to the front of the bus, so I pulled myself up over the seat and peered carefully at each of the Port Angeles students as they climbed aboard.

The first thing I noticed were the rowdy kids who pushed in line to get on the bus first. Second was that the quality of the Port Angeles High sports outfit was far better than our own. I could almost feel Alice's jealousy rolling off her. Theirs were dark uniforms with gold piping along the arms and up the ribs; they each had full tracksuits on and from what I could see they all appeared to even have matching _shoes_.

"Wow. Rich kids, or what?"

Alice ignored my comment. "I think that's Leah," she said as a girl with coppery skin and lovely long black hair stepped onto the bus. The girl, who was pretty much confirmed to be Leah when her face lit up at the sight of Alice heading between the bags for her, waved enthusiastically. They hugged and Alice pulled her down into the seat she'd previously pointed out. Just as Leah was taken out of the picture, I saw someone I prayed like anything was Edward.

He had dark brown hair, but when he passed a square of rare sunlight coming in through the window, it shimmered metallically. It then looked bronze to my eyes rather than brown. His skin was light, but it looked warm and had olive undertones. It looked very smooth and I wondered if it felt just as lovely. He was tall, having to duck slightly to avoid hitting his head on the bus ceiling. His legs were long and lean, just like a runner's should be. His shoulders were broad and though he was wearing a thick jumper I could see that he was _very _well built.

He had been looking down to avoid tripping over the waterfall of bags that had carelessly been thrown into the aisles as people had walked on, but then he looked up to speak to Leah. Green. Beautiful. More beautiful than a guy's eyes should be; nay, more than any _human's_ should be. They swirled with thoughts, and dreams, and conversations, and life, and a real, visible soul. I was totally fixated, staring more than even a stalker was entitled to – and then he looked up directly at me and Alice started bouncing around her chair.

He smiled, and I grinned, dropping back in my seat and feeling like my legs were made of rubber. I quickly snuck a glance over my shoulder to Mike, who was still flicking rubber bands carelessly at Emmett, and then saw him dive behind a chair to avoid an army of shots from James and Jasper. I turned back to stare some more at Edward, but I found he was much closer than I'd expected. Somehow he'd manoeuvred his way over without falling, and was standing beside the seat.

I wriggled across to let him sit down beside me.

"You must be Bella," he said, holding out a hand while using his other to swing his large sports bag onto an empty spot in the aisle. I nearly made a googly noise like a child when I heard his voice. It was… indescribable. I felt a million thoughts swirl through my head, mostly stupid and fanatical and unlikely .

"Bella, yes. You must be Edward." I took his outstretched hand. It was leathery but soft; muscular but tender; and much larger than my own but far gentler.

He sat down then, and I felt myself flush a little at having this near-perfect stranger (who wasn't really a stranger) so close beside me.

We looked at each other for a moment, and I cracked a smile, which he returned. I found tons of questions flying through my head, most of them inappropriate, but I managed to catch one thought before it flitted out my ear.

"Nice uniform," I commented, eyeing his dark threads.

He laughed, a lovely melody which immediately took a place at the top of my 'Favourite Sounds' list.

"They're new," he said, picking at his jacket. "Our coach wanted to show up your school, though apparently, that's not too hard if what Alice was wearing is any indication." He laughed quietly again.

I was so in awe at the sound of his voice that I completely forgot to be insulted – even though his tone indicated no nastiness. "Oh, yeah, me too."

_Oh. My. Gosh. I will happily jump out of the window. That made no sense at all! You stupid fool! What on earth was that?! I mean seriously, 'oh, yeah, me too'?! That makes no sense!_

"Umm, yeah." He smiled at me like he was seeing something more than my boring face and my comparatively bland jacket.

"Did you get my letter?" I asked then, and the bus rumbled to life under us, the Port Angeles coach yelling something from the front. I wasn't listening, and apparently I wasn't the only one because the noise around us didn't cease in the slightest.

He reached down into his bag, revealing a water bottle. He raised it to his lips and I felt my heart speed up at his movement. "Yeah, I got it on Thursday. I've already put my reply in to be sent, so I can't give it to you sorry, but I think us being able to talk to each other is a good alternative anyway!"

"Ha," I laughed stupidly, still caught in the wonder of his face, his voice, his laugh, his presence, his smell...

His smell. It reminded me of something I couldn't put my finger on, but it was lovely and sweet. It was smooth and velvety, yet soft and pure like milk. Just like his flawless skin, which was far too close to me – I was currently losing the mental battle to not reach up and touch him.

_Ah!_ I internally hit myself. I have a boyfriend, less than fifty feet away; and here I am thinking about touching a stranger's face! This is insane! I firmly sat on my hands as I waited for his next words.

He looked around the bus, and laughed softly when he saw the guys up the back flicking rubber bands around. "They your friends?" he asked, looking from the boys to me and back again as he spoke.

"Yeah. The big one is Emmett–"

"Wow! You weren't kidding when you said he was massive. Sam's got nothing on that guy! Where is he, anyway?" He more or less said the last question to himself, so I stayed silent while he scanned the front of the bus for his friend. "Sam!" He suddenly yelled, and I felt irrational goose bumps creeping up my arms.

A blonde guy turned back to see Edward, a smaller guy caught in a head lock under his arm. I laughed beside Edward at the sight, and Sam looked at me, then smiled.

"What?" Sam called back, using his free hand to give the helpless guy a noogie.

"Drop him, Sam; he's less than half the size of your head!"

"Nope," Sam said, smiling cheekily.

"Tell that guy to pinch Sam's arm. It works when Emmett's sandwiching me." I whispered, looking up at Edward. He smiled at me then turned back to Sam and his victim, who was now wriggling frantically as Sam started yanking single hairs from his head, laughing mischievously.

"Paul!" The head stopped wriggling. Sam looked suspiciously at Edward. "Pinch him!"

A moment later there was a great yell as Sam released the head, rubbing a spot on his arm. I laughed, as did Edward, and Paul straightened up to rub his neck.

"Thanks," he said to Edward, then leaned back in his seat.

"Well, that's Paul and Sam. I don't know where Jared is, probably with Kim or something." Edward sat back in his chair and turned to me with a smile on his face.

"Like I said, you've got interesting friends!" I laughed and he grinned at me.

"Well, they _do_ make me feel normal." He turned to the back seat again. "Who are the others?"

I turned reluctantly away from his face and followed his gaze. "That's Tyler, the one with his arms over his head. The big one, like I said, is Emmett. The blonde is Mike. Umm," I said, looking around for other people I knew so I could get my guilty mind off of Mike. "That's James and Jasper, the two sitting there by the yellow bag, and behind them is Jacob."

Edward was nodding as I pointed everyone else I knew out. "I know a fair few of them, just by name mostly."

"Who did you come with?" I asked, turning back to the front where the Port Angeles High students were seated.

"Well, Leah, obviously," he smiled at me as he looked back to his other friends. "There's Paul and Sam, and Jared is…" he looked around again. "Oh! There he is," he said, pointing to a dark-haired boy sitting next to a girl with curly hair a few chairs in front of Alice and Leah.

"Whoa. Pretty," I commented, seeing Kim.

Edward laughed, and I looked questioningly at him. "Jared will be pleased to hear you think he's pretty," he clarified.

"Oh, no, I meant –" I started, getting flustered.

Edward abruptly patted my leg. "Chill, Bella, I know. I'm just messing with you."

He left his hand on my leg a second longer than I would have expected, but he didn't seem to think it was out of line because he started talking again without any embarrassment.

"So, shall we play twenty questions?"

"What?" I asked, genuinely confused by the proposal.

"Twenty questions," he repeated. "Have you played before?" he asked, looking at me like I was a little bit strange. _Ha! He think's _I'm_ the strange one – and he's the eighteen year-old suggesting a round of twenty questions!_

"Oh, yeah, I know how to play. I just thought it was a bit random is all."

"Okay, cool. Shall I start?" he said, twisting in the chair to face me better. I flattened my back against the window to give myself more room, but he just slid into the small gap I had put between us. Not that I had a problem with that.

"Go for it."

"Right then, umm," his eyes scanned over the bus' ceiling as he thought. "What's your favourite colour?"

"Very original," I laughed. He just smiled at me and waited for my response. I thought for a moment, then decided that today blue was my favourite colour. Blue skies... blue is the colour of First Place... blue is the colour of calmness, and I needed a good dose of calm with this guy next to me. I turned to him, and was momentarily stunned by his eyes, causing me to blurt my real answer. "Green," I said. I suddenly rushed to correct myself. "I mean blue, blue is my favourite today."

He smiled, but didn't look like he'd picked up on any suspicious behaviour. I could feel my cheeks starting to burn. "My turn?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Okay, um, what's you're favourite colour?"

He smiled cheekily. "Nuh uh, you can't copy any questions."

"Darn it. Umm, err," I looked down at my hands for a moment. "What do you want to do when you leave school?"

"That's easy!" he said, happy that it wasn't a difficult question. "I want to be a doctor. Most of the men in my family are doctors, and I know that they wouldn't go against me if I wanted to be something else, but I like the idea of helping people for the rest of my life."

I felt my heart melt a little bit at his words, but tried very hard not to show it.

"Wicked, I think you'd make a good doctor!"

He smiled. "Thanks."

"Okay, your turn."

"What's your most embarrassing moment?"

I went a little pink at the thought of my most embarrassing moments, but knew he would probably see me embarrass myself at some point today anyway. "Well, I don't even know where to start. There are just so many to choose from!" I joked, trying to push away the mortifying memories.

I knew straight away what my most embarrassing moment was, but it didn't stop my memory throwing in unpleasant snapshots of other particularly red-faced moments.

During a sleep over at Alice's house, I had talked about some rather embarrassing things in my sleep and Alice had been silly enough to record it for her own amusement. She hadn't remembered that Emmett has a habit of going through her things when he's bored, and when he heard about my sleep-world fantasies he had proceeded without regret to tell Mike all the details. It had been constantly awkward for the next three weeks – particularly since Mike and I weren't going out yet.

Another came to mind; when during the school dance two years ago I had stood up to dance with Alice because none of the guys were asking us, and I had managed to tear down all the decorative posters and banners along with breaking half the lighting equipment by just tugging on one rope when I'd stood from my chair.

The worst, though, was when I had been chosen (I still don't know how, or why) to be in the school musical. I'd survived the practices alright, but on opening night I did a repeat of the school dance incident and knocked all the props over – even sending a large wooden door crashing down into the orchestra pit, not only breaking half the percussion equipment but knocking out the conductor too.

It certainly was a night to remember.

And I didn't really want to tell Edward that, because I was sure he would just think I was some stupid girl who couldn't see past her own nose not to mention her own feet, so I replied with, "I sleep talk. It's very embarrassing, thought I can't tell you exactly what I've done because I fortunately wasn't conscious for it."

He started laughing, like I had expected, but it wasn't malicious. "Oh, that's nothing. I've had heaps more embarrassing moments than that. With my friends behind me, there's nothing I can't do!" I laughed along with him, but I didn't want to ask him what his worst moment was because sometimes, it's better not to know.

"My turn again." I thought for a moment, thinking about what I wanted to know about Edward. I decided that even thought we hadn't been talking for that long; hadn't even known the other existed for that matter – but I felt that I could ask him something mildly personal. "Do you promise to be honest?"

"Yeah, I promise," he said, holding his hand over his heart in a mock declaration.

"Promise?" I stressed, and he nodded. "What happened between you and your last girlfriend?"

He tensed for a moment. I expected him to tell me to shove off, it was none of my business, or that he'd rather not say, or that she'd cheated on him or something dramatic like that. But he didn't. He just cleared his throat, and said, "Things just got in the way of our relationship."

"Oh. Well, it's her loss then, isn't it?" I said nicely, and he looked up at me. I saw a strange expression on his face, but he blinked and it was gone before I could decipher it.

"Yeah, but if it's her loss than it's my heart that went with her." He grimaced.

My heart twisted to a painful degree. It was like I was feeling his hurt… and it _hurt_.

"Seriously, Edward, if she wasn't willing to get past whatever got between you two, then she didn't deserve you to start with!"

He laughed, and the sound was slightly shaky. "How do you know that? I could be a blood sucking vampire, Bella," he mocked, leaning over and pushing his face into my neck. This movement by Edward would have normally have been considered out of line; invading my personal space and what not. But he was warm, and smelt very nice. But I couldn't concentrate on that for very long. I giggled furiously; I was very ticklish.

"Ah!" I giggled, "Stop, stop! Okay! You're a very scary vampire!"

He leaned back and grinned at me. I was still giggling, and he saw my weakness. Slowly, and so he knew I could see it coming, he extended one hand toward my ribs. I squealed and pushed myself up against the window, giggling uncontrollably even though he wasn't even touching me yet. "No!" I squealed, but his other hand shot out and caught me around the middle.

"No escape, Bella!" he said mischievously as I writhed in his arms, breathless from the laughter. I was squirming so much that I fell off the seat onto the floor, trapped between our seat and the one in front. Edward smiled devilishly down at me, and I looked up at him, knowing what he was going to do.

"No! Mercy, mercy, I'm begging you, no more!"

He laughed and reached down, but instead of tickling me to death he pulled me back up. I breathed heavily, jumping and squealing whenever he moved as he waited for me to get my breath back. Eventually I was able to hold my own, and I turned to him, remembering our game.

"It's your turn, Edward."

"Oh yeah. I'd nearly forgotten about that." I saw his expression change, and I was quite sure what he was going to ask me next. "What happened between you and your last boyfriend?"

"No copying questions!"

"Oh yeah." He thought for a moment. "Then, do you have a boyfriend?"

"BELLA!" Called a familiar voice.

"Yeah, Alice?" I called back, thankful for the interruption. I heaved myself onto my knees to look over the top of the seat in front and see where she was.

"We're here!!" She pointed out the front of the bus to the stadium in the not-too-distant-distance.

"Wicked!" I called back, then fell back onto my folded legs to talk to Edward. "We're here," I said in a quieter voice.

"I see," he said, leaning around the seat.

"What events are you in today?" I asked him, curious to see if he was just a runner. That and, any excuse to get the topic away from boyfriends was a good one.

"Um," he said, leaning back into the seat to speak to me. "The relay, the hundred metre sprint, two hundred and eight hundred events, and the long-jump, all for Under Twenty-One's."

"Wow," I said, impressed. I vaguely noted that Mike was also competing in the long-jump, which meant I had a good excuse to stare at Edward- wait. I did _not_ just think that.

_I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend._

"Cool. I might come and watch that. Someone I know is in the long-jump too."

"That'd be cool! You should. And I don't think you've got any choice but to be at the running events anyway, you'll have to be prepping your own lot to give them the courage to try and beat the ever might Port Angeles High School!" He added the last part with a body-builder style pose, and kissed his bicep as he flexed it. I had been right, he _was_ buff.

"'Try'? Ha! We'll wipe the floor with your people, Edward!"

He smiled a lovely crooked smile. "What ever, Miss Swan. I'll be seeing you out on the battle field!"

Everyone was thrown to the left as the bus turned into the stadium car park, and I discovered that I had found a new contender for the number one spot on my 'Most Embarrassing' list. I was thrown violently into Edward, who thankfully remained on the seat. When I straightened myself up, I was sitting on his lap in a place I really shouldn't have been. He had his arms tightly around me because I had come very close to getting a concussion from the corners of the bags littering the aisle, and I had grabbed onto the first thing my hands had seized. My hands were clutching his shoulders with a vice-like grip and my face was inches away from his.

All this was realised in a split second, and I jumped like I'd been electrocuted to get off him before anyone saw. My face flushed red and Edward laughed quietly as I pulled myself back into my own seat, muttering my apologies.

"It's alright, Bella, it happens."

"Sorry," I repeated, looking down in the hope that my mortified face would be less obvious that way.

"Port Angeles kids off first," Coach Clapp's voice boomed through the well-abused speakers.

"That's me," he said, standing up along with all the other well-dressed kids and grabbing his bag from the floor. "Maybe I'll see you again today, yeah?"

"Yeah," I said, still horrifically embarrassed.

"Bye, Bella." He waved and joined the line filing off the bus.

In an instant, Alice was next to me.

"Wow, way to throw yourself at him," she joked with a pixie-like grin.

"Shut up, it wasn't my fault!"

She just kept laughing, so I hit her in the arm.

"Right, now Forks students. Our seats are on the far side of the auditorium. Please make your way over there and we will take the roll as you file off the bus in an _orderly_ manner."

Everyone else immediately jumped up and started shoving their way off the bus, so Alice and I clutched our bags to our chests. We didn't fancy finding them with their contents' crushed to dust after the herd had passed.

"Let's go," Alice said once we were some of the last on the bus.

I got off and was immediately swept up in a hug from Mike. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, you," I said, leaning to kissing him on the cheek. He turned his face to mine and caught me in a proper kiss, which I didn't mind, until Coach Clapp's voice thundered right in my ear.

"Good to see the two of you getting along so well!" He was faking happiness, and I could see the maniac glint in his eye. _Uh oh._

Mike dropped me, clearing his throat and standing in a way that was expectant of a yelling-at.

"Newton," he said unsympathetically. "There are a few boxes on the bus that I could use a hand with. And I think there are plenty of other jobs to be done during the day between your events, so don't go too far will you?" Mike sulked as he headed for the under-carriage of the bus. The Coach thrust a box into his arms and he nearly fell under the weight.

"Heavy stuff!" Emmett yelled excitedly from somewhere near the gates. He bounded over and looked at Coach Clapp. "Can I help?"

"If you really want to," the Coach said, raising a bewildered eyebrow. He saw Alice and I still standing there, and motioned with his hands for us to get a move on. "On your way, ladies," he ushered. Alice didn't even get any special treatment, and I think she was just as surprised as I was.

We turned to the gate, and with a sympathetic look at Mike and an amused one at Emmett (who was hidden behind at least three of the same boxes that Mike was struggling to hold up one of), we went through the high wrought-iron gates into the stadium.

* * *

**Okay! So Edward and Bella have met... what do you think? I'll update as soon as I can!**

**Love you all :-)**

**-Shaps**


	12. Carnival

**Okay everyone, usually I read through my chapters before I post them as the last step in the editing process; but as you will be able to tell, this chapter is exceptionally long. I'll warn you now that it'll take a little while to read through, so hopefully you're not putting something important to the side in order to read!**

**Thanks, as always, for your wonderful reviews! And the suppliers of those reviews are:**

**Ghosts in the Snow, CrazZy-BunNy, xx Phyre xx (x2), jennifier potter, edwardluva234, beggingtobebitten, dollegirl, Lianna Weschester, yaaaay, okiegirlforever, mrsjacobblack91, Princess-Tinkerbelle, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, x-aly-x, laibballfan, smile for the paparazzi, booknerd14, RedK-UK, PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O., tthrai01, Kevin the Cornbread Slice.**

**Special Mentions (these will have to be shorter than usual; long chapter!)**

**CrazZy-BunNy and booknerd14: I'm sorry, but I won't be putting in any Edward POV's in for a little while. I promise it'll be there though; and you'll also see Bella's point of view on the same situation. It'll be good, promise!**

**xx Phyre xx: Nope, no vampires in this fic; thought perhaps in a sequal if you guys want one once this is done. Your other comment is very observant; but you'll have to wait to see if you're right or not. And the BellaxMike thing will end soon enough! Don't worry, it's coming. :-)**

**jennifier potter: Ahhhh! Put down the crowbar! I don't want to die by merit of a blunt object!! And, well done with the event observation.**

**beggingtobebitten: We shall see who wins Bella; both metaphorically and literally, in this chapter!**

**dollegirl: I read my reviews today in design class because I was bored and had finished my photo-shop work, and as I was scrolling down some of my friends started reading too. When I read your review, I was laughing so hard I was actually crying! Seriously, my teacher thought I was in pain or something. My friend Chloe was totally inconsolable. Your crack about the bus hitting Mike was, clearly, GOLD; but even funnier was when you wished Jasper would stand with him if he's going to continue to be a jerk. Oh my gosh. I even started laughing again when I read my email-alert thingo. Haha. Loved it! Thanks, it made my day wickedly awesome!**

**Lianna Weschester: yes, be patient my dear, this is most certainly a BellaxEdward story.**

**okiegirlforever: Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it :-) Yes, later in the story there will be M content. I'll put a warning on the chapter just so people are aware, but it's not coming for a while. Oh, and I got my wisdom teeth cut out a few months ago, so i feel your pain. Just think of how nice it will be in a few days when it doesn't hurt to think!**

**mrsjacobblack91: Don't worry, Edward didn't see Bella and Mike together.**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: Hahahaha, I love your reviews, they crack me up. They're awesome! And, brownie points are awarded for long reviews, so you're in the clear. And, my wrist is getting better thankyou, I almost hit someone who was being a pain today though; I guess it's a good sign that i'm willing to use it, right? Lol. Oh well. It's funner when people review like they know me, so don't stop!**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: just loved your review; I was all gushy after reading that (and the teacher thought I had just been cyber-proposed too). What the fruit?! Haha. I'm weird, I know.**

**x-aly-x: There's more nasty Jasper in this chapter! (Does that rhyme?)**

**smile for the paparazzi: Oooooohhh, you're an observant one. That line is VITAL later on in the story, so don't forget it. :-)**

**Wow, I really suck at trying to keep things short. Oh well. Here's the chapter where we get to properly meet all of Edward's friends!**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Carnival**

* * *

"Ugh," Alice complained as she pushed down the folding stadium seat and watched it flip back up. "How many people do you think have farted on this chair?"

I laughed at her and sat down uninhibited on the chair beside hers. "Stop worrying, Alice. You'll get lines on your face."

She immediately smoothed her expression and sat down normally – but I didn't miss the wince she made as she made contact with the flimsy plastic.

"Where are the Port Angeles people sitting?" I asked her, my thoughts focused annoyingly on Edward. I knew she picked up on my tone, but thankfully didn't comment on it.

"I don't know. We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled."

"Yeah."

Emmett came weaving through the seats a few row in front of us, with no more than _five_ boxes balanced in his arms. Mike followed along behind him, red-faced and puffing, staring at the ground as he tried not to fall. I would have laughed if Emmett hadn't beaten me too it.

"Come on, Mike! They're not _that_ heavy!"

Mike glared pointedly at him and took the three steps necessary to put his box down next to Emmett's stack. "Some of us, Emmett, do not live on steroids!"

Emmett just laughed and hit Mike lightly in the arm. "And some of us don't spend our time whining about-"

But we never heard what some of us spent our time whining about, because Coach Clapp slapped his hands together and paced back and forth in front of our little student group. Everyone stopped chatting and sat down, knowing that this was the only speech they were going to have to sit through today – if they were quiet.

"Okay, competitors! Today's the day! I want you to all go out there and do your best for the school. Hopefully I'll be hearing compliments on how well you're all behaving yourselves, right Mr Brandon?" He directed his attention to Emmett, who was eyeing Tyler's exposed boxer elastic with twitching hands. A wedgie was in order, no doubt.

"Yes Sir!" Emmett saluted the Coach grandly, who took it as a serious gesture and saluted back before continuing his pacing. Emmett's hands inched closer to Tyler's waist, and I tried not to look.

"Right! Now, today is all about friendly competition, so no sabotage, no matter how tempting it is. Resist the devil! Now, each of your timetables for the day are here, so come and get them soon, the events start at nine-thirty. The time is now-" he looked down and consulted his watch, "-ten minutes past nine. You have twenty minutes to organise yourselves! All running events are at the end of the day, so if you've got nothing better to do I suggest you come and support the school. Go team!" He exclaimed, punching a fist into the air.

An embarrassed silence hung in the air for a moment, but then it was broken by Tyler's yelp of pain and the sight of him being lifted up in the air by Emmett – by his underpants. There was a ripping noise and everyone cracked up laughing. Emmett couldn't hold him there because he was laughing too much, so he set him down, and Tyler was a brighter shade of red than I think I've ever achieved. I noticed then who he was sitting next to, and that Ally was smiling _with_ Tyler, not at him. In my head a chorus of 'awwwww's sang out.

I leaned forward to speak to Ally, both because Alice was inconsolable in her laughter and because Ally was looking a little awkward at the situation. I felt the urge to save her.

"Good morning, Ally," I said, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned at the sound of my voice and smiled shyly.

"Hey Bella, how are you?" She smiled wider when she saw Alice struggling for air beside me. I looked at Alice and shook my head in mock disgust.

"Really good, actually, but I did kind of fall on someone from the other school when the crazy bus driver swung the coach into the parking lot. It was sooo embarrassing!"

She laughed along with me. "Oh, that would suck. Did you know them?"

"Yeah, it was the guy I've been writing to for my pen pal thing for school."

"Oh!" she said, and she twisted around further in her seat, holding onto the back of the plastic so she wouldn't slide off. "You're doing that too?"

Beside her, Tyler got up and announced he was going to the toilet before he walked away in an uncomfortable fashion. Beside me, Alice, who had only just managed to control herself, erupted in a fresh wave of giggles and fell off the seat again.

"Yeah," I said, trying to keep my thoughts on track. "He's really cool. Who'd you get?"

"I got a girl. Her name's Kim."

_Wow. Small world._

"No way!" I exclaimed, slightly weirded out at the coincidence. "She's dating _my_ pen pal's best friend."

"Really? That's pretty cool, and bizarre," she added.

"No kidding."

"So you fell on him," she said, reverting back to the main point of the topic.

I laughed nervously and tugged at my collar, pretending to be horrified at myself. "Yeah. It was terrible, and he was so nice too, ahh! Why do I always have to make a total ass out of myself?!"

She laughed at my theatrics, and ignored my rhetorical question. "So Mike's okay with this?" she asked tentatively.

I wriggled in my seat. "Well, you see, he kind of doesn't know."

"Oh, Bella, bad idea," she said, shaking her head slightly.

"I know," I said, hitting myself in the forehead with the palm of my hand. "But what am I meant to do? I can't really bring it up, and even if he doesn't care I'll still feel guilty."

"How did he not see you sitting with this guy this morning?"

I was about to answer when I was hit sharply in the ribs by Alice's elbow. She indicated with her eyes to look behind me, and it was lucky I hadn't answered Ally because Mike was approaching at a pace that would have heard my words.

"Hey," I said, smiling as he approached.

Mike opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Coach Clapp. "There are more boxes to be found, Mr Newton!"

I looked at Mike with a sorry expression, and he returned it. "See you sometime soon, hopefully."

"Newton!" Coach Clapp yelled again. Mike rolled his eyes and headed back along the path to the bus.

"Do you want to get our timetables, and then go for a walk?" Ally asked me when Mike was out of earshot.

"Yeah," I said. I turned to Alice. "Alice? Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Nah, I'm feeling kind of hungry. I was so disgusted with these clothes this morning that I didn't have time for breakfast. I'll see you a bit later on, though."

"Okay."

Alice pulled her purse from her bag and dodged the scattered legs and bags as she hopped her way to the canteen, taking the longer but clearer route. The canteen was situated a little further along the stone path past our area.

"Okay, Ally, let's go."

I got up and turned to leave, then noted all the obstacles in my path – including the three J's at the end of the row throwing things around (already).

"Jump over to my row," Ally suggested sympathetically. I looked at her like she was a genius before carefully swinging my legs over. Ally knew me well enough to catch me – otherwise I would have had another bruise to add to the list.

"Thanks," I said once I'd straightened up. Ally led the way out the row, which had far less obstacles. We were just passing Jacob, Jasper and James when something almost hit my arm, whizzing down the rows of seats to the trackside rows. I slowly turned and gave daggers to Jacob, who looked back innocently.

"What! It wasn't me," he pointed to Jasper, who was grinning like an idiot and spinning half an orange in his hand.

I opened my mouth to scold him, when suddenly the half-orange which had hit me was flying toward Jasper, and smacked him squarely in the head. I burst out laughing along with the audience I hadn't realised we'd had, and Jasper picked up the orange from the floor, glaring at it.

"Nice shot, Coach!" I called over my shoulder, trying and succeeding to confuse Jasper. Coach Clapp obliviously waved up at us and went back to the papers he was playing with. Jasper increased his grip on the orange-bomb so much that it burst in his hand, spraying juice all over Jacob, who was laughing hysterically.

"Nice shot, Jasper," I commented seriously as we departed. Once my face was turned away from them, however, Ally and I both burst into laughter. I scanned the crowd below for the real assassin, but didn't see anyone I knew – or anyone who would be game enough to throw that orange at Jasper.

We descended the steps down to the Coach's table, and as Ally asked for her timetable I dared to sneak a glance back at the three idiots. Jasper had evidently forgotten about the incident, however, because he was aiming at some people in the canteen line. I turned back at the sound of my name.

"You don't have a timetable, Miss Swan."

"Oh." I said. "Can I have a piece of paper telling when I need to be down here for the team manager's gig, then?"

"Sure thing," he said, seizing a scrap and writing some details messily on it. He handed it to me, then looked up in alarm as a scream echoed around the stadium.

I whipped around at the sound of the voice, and watch as Alice stormed down the few stairs required to reach Jasper. She was holding a half an orange in one hand and looked furious. I knew I wouldn't be able to get there quickly enough to stop her, so I watched with Ally from the bottom of the stands as Alice shouted something unintelligible at Jasper, who looked back with a smug expression on his face. I noticed for the first time that there was a wet patch on the front of Alice's shirt where the orange had hit her. I giggled as Jacob subtly leaned back, giving Alice full range for her quivering fist.

Jasper said something then, and Alice reached breaking point. Her hand appeared out of nowhere and slapped Jasper across the cheek with a crack like a whip. Behind me, Coach Clapp quietly laughed. Several of the witnesses started cheering and clapping, most of them laughing, including Ally and I.

Alice turned to walk away, but then must have remembered the orange in her hand. She raised it over Jasper's head and squeezed, showing his stupid head with juice. She wiped her hand on her shorts and said something sharply before turning and heading back to her place in the canteen line. The people in the line parted for her to let her to the front, and she seemed to be getting a lot of praise from them.

"That's not something you see every day," Ally said from beside me.

"You're not wrong," I said, turning to her and shoving my scrap of paper into my pocket.

"Ready for that walk?" she said, holding out her arm like a gentleman should when inviting a lady to walk with him. I linked my arm with hers and we grandly headed across flat ground to the grassy slope around by the long-jump pits so we could sit and talk.

"So, what was this you were telling me about your pen pal?" she said, sitting down beside me.

I pulled my knees to my chest and leaned my arms across them. "Well," I began, thinking about how to explain my situation. "I've been writing to him for uh, two weeks I think. And he was really funny and interesting and I felt really stupid because I would get excited when ever a letter would come from him."

Ally laughed. "Don't worry; I get excited when I get them on Mondays too."

I sighed in relief. "Good, then it's not just me."

"So about this morning, Mike didn't notice who you were sitting next to?"

I remembered our conversation topic before Mike had appeared and was relieved to find my train of thought had not deserted me. "Yeah, I was pretty worried about that. But I think that ball of rubber bands they were flinging around at each other was more than enough of a distraction."

"Oh yeah," Ally laughed, "I saw them with that. I was going to move back next to Tyler but he was having too much fun! I couldn't spoil it for him."

"Hey," I said suddenly, remembering something Tyler had said. "Weren't you and Tyler going to spend today together?"

"Yeah, but it's not like I haven't seen him yet." She looked over my shoulder at the chairs where the school was seated. "Plus, he's probably still tending to his battle wounds." She added the last part with a giggle, and I laughed too.

"That was a wicked wedgie, I have to admit," I said, hoping I wasn't saying the wrong thing. Fortunately, Ally just laughed and nodded her head in agreement.

We were both silent for a moment, enjoying the feel of sun on our faces. I looked across the running track to the grass area in the middle where the javelin and shot-put and other events were going to be staged. I made a mental map as we sat in a comfortable silence, thinking about where I could stand to get the best view of the runners. My mind was wandering into dangerous territory at the prospect of staring at certain people uninhibited, when Ally thankfully interrupted my thoughts.

"So how are you going to tell Mike?"

Damn. I hadn't thought about that, still.

"To be honest, I have no idea. I'm just hoping he randomly says to me, 'Hey, Bella, I would be totally fine with it if you were writing to a guy for this pen pal thing' and I would reply, 'well, that's marvellous, because I am writing to a member of the male species, actually' then we would skip off into the sunset and bake cakes together."

"You're really weird sometimes, you know," she smiled and shook her head at my craziness.

"Yeah, true. But it makes you feel extremely normal, doesn't it?"

"Yep."

We sat in silence for a moment.

I turned to her. "What should I do?"

She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't know. This is something you're going to have to work out yourself Bella, you know Mike better than anyone."

"Hmm." I looked at my shoes and tapped my feet on the grass.

"You know what?" Ally said suddenly, and I turned to her, hopeful that she had thought of a method of explanation.

"What?"

"My butt's wet. I think we should move."

She stood up and turned around, displaying an impressive wet patch.

"Damn it," I said, realising my back-side felt kind of damp too. I stood up and turned, and Ally laughed.

"Yep, welcome to the club."

"Shall we go back?" I tried to look over my shoulder at my behind, but ended up turning around in circles like a dog chasing its tail.

"Yeah, if we stay out here we're going to end up sitting on something that's been rained on in the last twenty-four hours."

"True. Let's go then," I turned and walked back along the sloping grass with her. As we approached our seats, I saw Alice sitting with her knees up on the chair in front and concealing something in her lap as she chewed on a bar of some kind. Jasper, Jacob and James were gone, so I invited Ally to sit with us.

"Cool, thanks," she said, following me as I tried to weave between the bags.

Almost everyone had left for food or their events or something, and there were people slowly leaking out onto the field, picking up javelins and tying their shoe laces. I scanned the ground for Edward, but didn't see him. I hoped the disappointment wasn't too clear on my face.

"Alice, you're totally obvious."

"What?" she said, looking up from the shiny silver phone in her hands.

"It'd be apparent to a _monkey_ that you're texting when you're not meant to be," Ally interjected, and I laughed.

"Oh well, I could sweet talk myself out of murder if I had the chance," she said, taking another bite out of her bar.

"Speaking of murder," I said, remembering her blow up at Jasper. "Give us the details on what happened with Jasper and that orange."

She looked at me with a devilish smile and straightened up in her seat, flipping her phone shut and shoving it into her pocket. I noticed that she'd changed her shirt, but couldn't dwell on it too long because she started her tale.

"I was standing in the canteen line, talking to this really cute guy from some school down south, when something hit me. I looked down and saw half an orange at my feet, then heard those stupid idiots cackling. I picked up the orange and went over there, intending to shove it up Jasper's nostril if I didn't get an apology.

"So I walked up to them, and Jacob and James shut up straight away. Jasper kept guffawing at me, so I told him he was a jerk and that not even Lauren would consider dating someone as slimy as him. He said 'too late' and I got really pissed at his attitude, and my hands started to shake. I said he was a stupid jerk and that he ought to jump off a cliff of some sort, or to crawl back into the hole he came out of. He kept that stupid grin on his face, and then I couldn't stop myself from smacking him as hard as I could across the face. It felt damn good, too. And I knew I had made my point, so I turned to walk away, but remembered the orange was in my hand, so I squeezed it all in his hair and said 'I think this is yours' before I turned and walk away."

"Way to go, Alice!" I congratulated her.

"Thanks," she said, smiling. "So I went back to the canteen line, and the cute guy was gone. I was really annoyed, but I got to go to the front of the line for my psycho behaviour, so it all turned out okay!"

Ally and I giggled and smiled. "Was he cute?" Ally asked.

"Yeah, I reckon. What did he look like?" I added, indicating my interest in the random canteen-line guy.

"Hell yes!" Alice exclaimed. "Black hair, tall, buff, really handsome and funny. And he asked for my number!"

I gasped in awe, as did Ally. "Did you give it to him?" I pressed.

"I was about to, when an orange hit me."

"Oh, Jasper is _so_ annoying!"

"No kidding," she said, sulking. "But if he really wants my number, he can come and find me again."

_Damn Alice and her foolproof confidence. I wish I could borrow it for just a day._

Ally suddenly jumped and pulled her paper out of her pocket. She scanned it and had a slightly panicked expression on her face before she looked to Alice and I.

"What's the time?" she asked, somewhat urgently. Alice whipped her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen.

"It's five to ten."

"Oh, sugar! I'm supposed to be doing my event in five minutes! I've gotta go guys, I'll speak to you later!" And with that she ran full-pelt to the end of the row, down the stairs to the gate and cut across the field to the sand pits I had seen before. She skidded to a half in front of someone holding a clipboard, and she was still speaking to them when I decided to do some reading.

I reached into my bag and my hand hit some item of material which was slightly sticky. I pulled out Alice's school-spirit shirt and held it up to see the horrible orange-juice stain on the front.

"You didn't expect me to put that in _my_ bag, did you?" Alice said in a mock Barbie doll tone.

"Oh, no, Alice never." I balled it up and threw it at her. "You loser. Why is this in here?"

"I didn't have any room left in my bag because I brought so much deodorant."

I pursed my lips in thought, then nodded my approval. "That was probably a good idea."

She nodded and started typing into her phone again. I pulled my bag onto my knees and kept digging around for my book. I finally revealed it, and was about to open it when I felt a pair of hands cover my eyes.

I laughed, and opened my mouth to tell Mike to stop being silly when Alice piped up beside me.

"Hey, Leah! You got my message?"

I quickly shut my mouth and raised my hand to move the hand away. It was Edward.

"Hey," I said, swallowing hard at the realisation of the screw-up I had been about to make. "What's up?" I asked, twisting around in my seat to see him better.

Leah and Alice got lost in their conversation and I was feeling slightly self-conscious. _What if Mike sees this?_

"Pretty much nothing. I've got almost all the day until my real events start, but I've got long-jump at eleven."

"You're lucky," I said, and he kneeled down on the other side of the chair to be at my height. "At least you've got _something_ to look forward to. I have to wait till the running events, and even then I'll just be standing around."

"And yelling at your team," Edward prompted.

"Right. And yelling at my team." I smiled.

"You should come and watch me then!" he suggested, standing up and jumping over the seat to sit next to me. I felt my heart speed up at his movement, and I internally kicked myself.

_I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend._

"I have a b- I mean, I was planning on coming over and watching it. I'll be watching, uh, a friend, in that event too."

He didn't seem to pick up on my almost-fatal slip up, and was smooth and quick with his reply.

"Cool. I'd better be seeing you there then." He smiled and looked at Leah for a moment, but saw that she was deep in girly, giggly conversation with Alice so he turned back to me. "What's this?" he asked, lifting up my book from my hands.

"It's about this girl who gets sucked into a cult," I said, admiring the blood-red flower on the front of _The Passion Flower Massacre_.

"Good book?" He asked, turning it over in his hands to read the back.

"Yeah. One of my favourites."

"Hmm." He flipped it back to the front and handed it to me. "I might have to borrow it from you some time."

"Sure," I said. I felt my heart kick it up a notch at the thought that he had almost promised to see me at least once again. I tried to mentally squash down the thoughts without looking in pain.

"So you have nothing to do until this afternoon," he clarified, watching my face carefully. I slowly shook my head, and he smiled brighter than before. "Wicked. You have no reason to avoid meeting my friends then!"

"Why would I need an excuse?" I asked, slightly worried.

Edward stood and brushed a hand through his hair. The sun caught the shimmering tones, giving him a halo of light. My heart stopped.

"Uh, no reason." He dropped his hand I felt my heart rushing to make up lost time. "Shall we?" he said, stepping over the chair to walk away so he wouldn't have to step over Leah and Alice on our way out.

I felt a slight sweat break out at the thought of trying to hop a row _up_. _Down_ was one thing, but going _up_ was far more accident-likely. Regardless, I stood and tried to be graceful as I swung one leg up over the chair. Success, I was half-way there.

_…and I just jinxed it._

As my right leg tried to join the left on the other side of the row, I overbalanced and fell to the side, but didn't feel the impact of the edge of the plastic seat on my head, I just felt a pair of unreasonably muscular arms catch me and pull me gently up.

"Thanks," I said, straightening my clothes for longer than was necessary because my cheeks had turned a new shade of red.

"No problem," he said, smiling and leading the way toward his school's area, which I couldn't yet see.

"See you later, guys," said to Alice and Leah as I passed. They each looked up and smiled as we passed, but buried their heads into their conversation once the gesture had been made.

"So, where are we headed?" I asked, catching up to Edward.

"Around by the doors, I think it is. I'll know it when I see it," he said, smiling over his shoulder at me.

"Cool," I said, feeling slightly self-conscious again.

"You know, Bella," Edward began as we neared the sea of dark track suits which must have been his school.

"Yeah?" I said, to show I was listening.

"We didn't get to finish our game of twenty questions."

_Damn it. Why does everyone have a good memory for things I'd rather avoid?_ "Oh."

"So, do you have a boyfriend?"

I looked down at the ground as we walked. I decided that he was going to find out eventually anyway, so I might as well tell him now, and he could run for it on his high horse if he wanted to. Better sooner rather than later anyway.

"Yes."

"You do?" he said, but I was unable to read his expression.

"His name is Mike. He was the blonde guy on the back seat of the bus."

"Oh, okay." We walked in silence for a minute, slowly getting closer to people I could see now looked like Sam, Paul, Jared and Kim. "He doesn't know about me, does he?"

I was a little jolted by this question, wondering if Alice had said something, but there was a part of his expression which said he had come to the conclusion on his own.

"Well, yes, he kind of does, but he doesn't know you're not a girl."

"Oh." He looked at the ground as we walked.

"Yeah. 'Oh'."

I saw Sam then, and he was looking in our direction. "Edward!" he yelled loudly, causing several random people walking past to look at him in alarm, then to redirect their attention to Edward.

"Oh, he is _such_ a loser sometimes." Edward said quietly to me. "What?" he yelled back at Sam.

"Nothing!" Sam shouted, grinning like an idiot. "I just like making people look at you!"

"Ugh," he said quietly to me, and I laughed just as quietly.

"Bella, right?" Sam said as we approached. He held out a hand.

"Yep," I said, shaking it. My hand was lost in the shake with his massive one, and I noted that even though Emmett was bigger; it wasn't by much.

Sam was about half a head taller than Edward; and twice as wide across the shoulders alone. Edward was about one and a half of me, so Sam was absolutely gigantic! I had never really thought about how big Emmett was, because I'd known him for years, but I remembered the days when I was scared of him. That was before he had gotten his butt kicked by Alice, of course.

Seeing a man get beaten by a girl less than a third their size in every dimension was bound to bring down their scary-factor.

"I'm Paul," a sandy-blonde haired guy said, reaching around Sam to shake my hand kindly. He seemed like the kind of person who would be calm one moment, but completely lose the plot once angered in the right – or wrong – way. I smiled and mumbled a 'hello' back.

A girl with curly hair I recognised elbowed Sam sharply out of the way._ Ah, there we go, scary-factor lowered._

"I'm Kim," she said, smiling widely and very whitely.

"Bella," I responded.

"Oh, we know. Together Leah and Edward haven't shut up about you two. Plus, Edward _did_ give Jared a killer bruise on the leg over something he wrote on a letter from Edward to you, so for me to forget your name after that would have been an achievement!"

I laughed with her, and she dragged another dark-haired guy out of his seat. "Ow!" he protested when Kim smacked him across the arm when he wouldn't move.

"Be polite and say hi, Jared!"

"Hi Jared," he said mockingly, not peeling his eyes away from the hand-held game in his hands. Kim smacked him harder across the arm and he winced.

"I'm injured enough already!"

"Hello!" I said brightly, hoping to make him feel like an idiot to find acceptance with Edward's friends. It worked.

Jared looked up while Kim smiled an 'I told you do' look. I held out my hand and he shook it, going slightly pink when he realised I'd witnessed the whole scene.

"Hi," he said, and I could see him internally cringing.

"Right, well, this is great. Good on you Jared, way to make a first impression." Edward joked, pulling me over to what must have been his chair, because when I sat down he started rifling through a bag at my feet.

I couldn't help but feel disappointed when he dropped my hand once we'd fought through the curious people I'd just been introduced to.

"Where's Leah?" Kim called suddenly, trying to get Edward's attention. He was still digging through his bag so I answered for him.

"She's talking to Alice over near the canteen," I called back, and Kim rolled her eyes.

I heard her say quietly to herself, "Great. Now I can spend my morning with these fools." I laughed as Sam sat down on the back of one of the plastic chairs and snapped it clean off. He picked up the broken piece, shrugged and tossed it under the chair before continuing like nothing had happened.

"Does he do that much?" I asked Edward.

"Hmm?" he replied absent-mindedly.

"Don't worry." He buried his arm into his bag, and I couldn't hold in my curiosity. "What are you digging in there for?"

"Money," he said simply. "Ah ha!" he said suddenly, yanking his hand out of the bag and revealing a ten dollar note.

I laughed. "Are you hungry already?"

"Boys are always hungry, Bella."

I guess I already knew that, but hadn't taken any notice before. "That's true."

"Are you hungry?" he asked, and I could tell he was about to offer to buy me something.

"Nope," I said, but my stomach chose to grumble its protest right at that moment.

"Sure you're not. Come on," he said, grabbing my hand again and shoving his way through Sam's huge form when we reached the end of the row.

"Canteen," he called over his shoulder simply. I found my hand empty again.

"'Kay," Kim called back.

We walked in silence, and I tried to avoid thinking about Mike. I should have been sneaking around to see him while Coach Clapp wasn't on his back, but I didn't really want to. Besides, getting to know a new person, no matter whether they were a boy or girl, was a good reason, wasn't it?

"So, what do you want?" Edward said, and I realised we were at the canteen. I threw a panicked look over my shoulder, hoping like anything that Mike wasn't around.

"I'm not hungry," I said again.

"Uh huh, already heard that one. What do you want?"

I sighed, convinced that Mike wasn't anywhere within view. Edward was clearly not going to let me away from here without some kind of food in my mouth, so I pointed to the red frogs.

"One of them," I said, smiling cheekily.

"No sweets before lunch, missy," Edward said, mocking a parent-voice.

I rolled my eyes, then looked up to scan the menu for the cheapest thing I could see. "Okay then, umm, I'll have a pop-top."

"Okay."

He ordered some food for himself, and handed me a pop-top as we turned back to walk the path to his camp. I suddenly saw a blonde haired-someone talking to Alice with their back to us, and I nearly choked. _Mike!_ I ducked quickly behind Edward, who didn't change pace, but said neatly between chews of his sandwich, "Boyfriend?"

"Yep," I whispered, keeping an eye on him. He suddenly stood up sharply, and I saw that it wasn't Mike at all. It was Jasper, and he was holding his face like he had been slapped.

"Go Leah!" Edward exclaimed.

"What?" I said, confused. I straightened up and took another sip of my drink.

"She's got a good hit, that girl. I think it has something to do with being friends with Sam. Our girls keep us in line, good and proper."

"So do we," I said, admiring Leah as I watched Jasper holding his face back in his seat. "That idiot never learns," I said to Edward.

"Yeah, I know. At least I've got a good aim."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but he was halfway through a big bite. I waited for him to finish, but he didn't seem to be rushing, so I rolled my eyes and waited.

By the time he was able to answer, we were back to the Port Angeles area. I led the way to the seats this time, and Sam didn't require a jab from anyone to move out the way for us.

Edward finally swallowed and I waited expectantly.

"I have a good aim," he explained.

"What on _earth_ are you talking about?"

He looked at me like I was missing something extremely obvious. "Your blonde haired friend who got taken down a hitch by Leah? I chucked an orange at him before, when we were walking past. Got him right in the head. It was great!"

"That was _you!_" I exclaimed, realisation painting my face.

"Yep," he said, taking another bite of sandwich. "But I didn't want to be seen otherwise he probably would have come and killed me, and Sam wasn't with me and Paul."

"Well, good shot."

He took another bite. "Thanks," he said thickly.

I sipped on my drink while he finished his sandwich, and as I heard the sound of his coke drink fizzing open, I looked over to him.

He really did have a lovely face, whether I was allowed to be impressed by that or not. His nose was straight and model-like, as was the rest of his body. I couldn't help but feel my thoughts wondering to what his arms could _really_ lift if he were able to stop me falling so easily; and without breaking a sweat. His eyelashes were unusually long for a guy, but they suited him. His eyes were a lovely shade of green, and his hair remained in a constantly tousled state. I forced myself to look away before he caught me staring, and I nearly fell off the chair when he spoke.

"Finished?" he asked, indicating my empty pop-top.

I gulped "Yep," I said as normally as I could. "Where's the bin?" I looked around me but couldn't see one.

"We don't know. Here, I'll take it for you; I don't think you want to walk around with that in your hand all day." He took the empty plastic bottle from me and dropped it into his bag.

"Thanks."

"You ready to go watch some long-jump?" he said, pulling his sleeve up a little to see the time.

"Sure," I said, putting my feet down from where they had been against the seat in front of me.

Edward screwed the cap back onto his drink and held onto it as he stood, stretching. I got up and lead the way out, again not having to get Sam to move, thought I was sure I saw Kim's elbow do some of the moving for me. I smiled at her as I squeezed out of the cramped space, and she smiled knowingly back.

"Have fun, guys," she said as Edward passed her. She winked conspicuously and I laughed.

"He doesn't need any luck, Kim, he always wins," Jared said from his seat behind us.

I turned to Edward. "Do you always win this event?" I asked.

"Nah, not all the time."

"Why did Jared say you always win, then?"

"Dunno," he said, shrugging; but I could feel a slight stiffness to the movement, like he wasn't being truthful. I let it slide, however, because he brought up a new topic. "So how long have you and your boyfriend been going out for?" he asked politely, like it was a question about the weather.

"Oh, a while. I think it's approaching six months now."

Edward looked at me, impressed. "Wow. That's a fairly long time."

He looked forward again, but I could feel the tension in the air. "What?" I said, worried by his reaction.

"Nothing."

I wasn't convinced.

"Seriously, what is it?"

"I was just... thinking about, um, whether you are, um, happy with your relationship?"

It sounded like he'd changed his sentence at least three times.

"Just say it Edward, come on. I'm a big girl, I can handle it."

I waited for him to speak, and he took a long while, but I refused to be the one to break the silence. We had arrived at the long-jump pits when he finally talked again.

"I'll tell you what. In one week, if I haven't already worked out the answer, I'll ask you again." He watched my face carefully. I felt frustrated, but I tried to not let it show. I figured this was the best deal I was going to get. "Deal?" he asked, holding out a hand. He really had a thing for hand-shaking, and holding, and brushing against mine while we would walk beside each oth-

"Bella!" called a voice. I kept my eyes on Edward, not willing to let him off the hook.

"Deal," I said quickly, seizing his hand and shaking it once.

I found myself swinging around in the air then, and screamed at the sudden movement. Mike set me down again, and kissed me wetly on the cheek.

"Yuck!" I exclaimed, wiping my cheek with my sleeve.

I realised Edward was standing there, smiling for some reason. He had that annoying look on his face Alice sometimes had which usually meant she knew something I didn't.

"Mike, this is Edward, my pen pal." I saw Mike balk as he remembered the 'girly' writing on my letter.

"You didn't tell me you were writing to a guy," Mike said, holding out a hand to shake Edward's. I was sure I heard jealousy in his voice.

"You never asked." He was about to protest but I interrupted him. "Edward, this is Mike."

"I'm her boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes so only Edward could see. His smile got bigger and I felt a twinge of confusion. _Why did that make him smile_ more_?_

Behind us, I heard a loud whistle. An official voice boomed from over by the sand pits. "Boys Under Twenty-Ones long-jump! Over here, please!"

"That'd be you two," I said, and Mike let go of me, turning back to the pits without a word. "Good luck!" I yelled after him, but he didn't appear to hear. "Well, good luck to you as well, Edward." I held up my hand and he slapped it in a high five before he walked gracefully over to the person with the clipboard.

I sat down on the grass and found myself in the company of Ally, who appeared out of nowhere beside me.

"Where've you been?" I asked, noting that she was panting slightly.

"I just finished the girls' long-jump."

"It started at ten! That took _ages_!"

"Yeah, it did, only because the stupid measuring guy got everyone's lengths wrong." She looked at me with an extremely annoyed expression on her face. "_Twice._"

"Oooh," I cringed. "Did you punch him?"

"Oh, trust me, I would have loved to. His head was so thick that I don't think he'd have felt it though."

I laughed, and Ally started playing with her hands, like I'd do if I was nervous or worried about something.

"You alright?" I asked, leaning on my knees.

"What?" she said, looking up. "Oh, yeah I'm fine."

I nodded, not believing her, but trusting her to tell me if she wanted to talk about it. A moment later, right on cue, she turned to me with a thoughtful face.

"Bella," she started, and I simply turned to her to show I was listening, not wanting to break her stride. "I was thinking about me and Tyler while that measuring idiot was trying to take down our scores."

"Yeah," I said, indicating my interest.

"And I know I've only been going out with Tyler for a day or two, but I was wondering how long into the relationship you're meant to say 'I love you'."

I pondered this for a moment. "Well, I think it depends on the people. Some people know they love each other straight away, and they aren't hesitant about saying it, where as some other people take a little longer to make sure so they don't get hurt."

"Oh." She looked down at her hands again. "How long ago did you tell Mike you loved him?"

I was taken aback by this. Not that she had asked, not that it was a personal question I didn't want to answer, but because I didn't _have_ an answer. I had not told Mike I loved him, and he had not said it to me. It was just a step that we'd skipped over, and I felt a slight panic at the realisation.

"It's okay," Ally said, thinking that my silence was because of embarrassment rather than a lack of answer. "You don't have to tell me, I was just curious is all."

"Thanks," I said, and my throat sounded hoarse for some reason. "If you love Tyler, you'll know when you love him, Ally. Don't worry about it." I said, looking up at the long-jump in an attempt to distract myself.

Another whistle sounded from the same person as before, and I watched as the first person took the mark for their run up.

I watched in silence with Ally lost in thoughts beside me, waiting for Edward or Mike to step up to the mark. Finally, Mike appeared and started running. I clapped to myself as he flew through the air, getting a pretty big jump which I would have guessed to be about two metres.

Weirdly, Edward was next. He took a long run-up, and I realised he was totally right about being unmatchable when he ran. His legs showed no effort and rather than flying messily through the air over the sand, he seemed to glide, and when he landed he caught himself well and finished in a standing position while a sour looking Mike walked back to the end of the line, wiping sand from his tracksuit.

Edward's leap had been huge, at least another foot and a half longer than Mike's. I was very impressed, but tried not to show it.

Mike's next just was pretty much the same, though I thought he got a little extra distance than his first.

Edward's next jump was so beautiful to watch that I forgot to see where the measuring person pulled the rope to, but I assumed his leap was just as good if not better than before because Edward had a smile on his face as he headed to the back of the line.

Mike seemed more determined at the realisation that this was his last jump. He was running extra-hard, and looked impressed with his score when he waltzed over to the guy with the clip board to check his best jump.

I watched Edward, who was the last person to go, and actually clapped a hand over my mouth as he emerged from behind someone.

He was standing on the spot, waiting to be told to go, with his shirt and jacket off, wearing just a singlet with 'Port Angeles High' across the chest. I hit Ally hard in the arm beside me, and she complained until I pointed to where she needed to be looking.

"Whoa," she said, her jaw hanging open. I closed it for her, not removing my other hand from my mouth.

His muscles were _ripped_. His arms were broad and strong and perfect and olive-coloured like the rest of him. His chest was muscular, and broad, but not overly-big like the weird weight lifters on television. His stomach was impossibly flat and muscular, but not to a weird degree, and I still couldn't look away.

"Snap out of it," Ally hissed at me suddenly.

"I don't want to," I said in a stupidly dreamy voice.

"Bella!" she warned, but I didn't look away. "Oh, hey Mike! How did you go?"

_Okay. Time to snap out of it._ I looked away from Edward's glimmering form and concentrated on the comparatively plain Mike Newton walking up the mound of grass to us.

"Pretty well, I think I'll come second."

"Well done! What was your best jump?" I said, standing up to give him a hug.

"Two thirty," he said. _Two metres thirty centimetres. Whoa, he could jump clear over me if I were to lay on the ground._

"That's awesome!" I exclaimed, hugging him again.

The whistle went behind him, and the same voice as before announced the beginning of the Under Eighteen long-jump. Mike pulled back and wiped a bit of sweat from his head.

_Ugh. How attractive._

"I'm gonna go and get a drink."

"Alright," I said, sitting back on the grass.

"You're not coming?" he said, hesitating.

"Nah, I've got a bit to talk to Ally about. I'll see you soon, anyway, it's nearly the lunch break."

"Okay. See ya, Ally." He waved as he headed off along the slanted grass toward the canteen area.

"Does that mean I can't join you?" Edward appeared by my side and I jumped a foot in the air. I was disappointed to see he was wearing a shirt again.

"Oh, Edward, don't _do_ that!" I said, hitting him in the arm.

"Ouch! Trying to eliminate the competition, are you?" He sat down next to me and waved to Ally, who waved back before looking away in a manner only recognisable to girls which meant she was incredibly impressed with his looks. I tried not to laugh.

"I don't need to eliminate the competition," I said smartly. "I've got Alice for that."

He laughed. He was close enough for me to notice that he hadn't broken out in any kind of a sweat, and that he still smelled lovely.

"What's the time?" I asked Ally. It was more of a way to get her to look at me so we could silently communicate our girly thoughts.

Her eyes were slightly wider than normal, and she looked down at a watch that wasn't there. "It's nearly midday," she said, and I knew that that was code for 'Edward is _hot_'.

"Oh, okay. Can I see?" She held out her hand, and I blocked the view with my body so Edward wouldn't catch us out. "Oh yeah. Definitely midday," I winked at Ally and she nearly started laughing.

"Time for food then!" Edward said, standing up. He held out a hand to help me up, then did the same for Ally, who looked at him like he was a particularly delicious piece of chocolate.

"Isn't that Tyler?" I said, looking over Ally's shoulder. She turned around and saw someone running toward us.

"Yeah, I think so." She took a few steps toward him, and I started laughing as Tyler swept her into his arms and spun her around while she screamed loudly. "Put me down!" she yelped, clutching his shoulders with all her strength.

I doubled over with laughter at the priceless look on her face. Edward was smiling with amusement beside me.

"I'll see you later, Ally," I said as Tyler leaned in and kissed her while she was still in his arms.

Edward and I took about ten steps away before I bumped intentionally into him and said, "Awww! Aren't they cute!"

"If cute means 'on the honeymoon stage', then yes, they're very cute."

I shoved him in the shoulder. "Spoil sport."

"That's my name!" he said as he puffed his chest out proudly and pretended to hold suspenders that weren't there. He dropped his hands and we kept walking in silence; I was trying very hard not to slip on the grass and go for a painful tumble down the hill.

"How did you go?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Huh?" Apparently he had been lost in his own thoughts, too.

"In the long-jump. How did you go? Mike said he got second."

"Oh, that." He blushed, and I felt proud of myself for making him blush for some silly reason. "I um… did pretty well."

"Well, what place? I saw your jumps; you're really good at it, so whoever won must have been pretty flippin' good to beat you."

He reddened slightly, and something so obvious clicked I almost hit myself in the head for missing it.

"You won?"

"Yeah," he said, kicking a loose rock with his foot.

"That's great!" I said, clapping and jumping up and down on the spot. Too late, I realised my footing had been lost and I was on my way down the hill when Edward caught me. Again.

"You've got a talent for doing that," he said, pulling me upright. "Here, walk around my other side," he said, pulling me around to his left.

"Thanks," I muttered, embarrassed at my stupid feet. "I can't believe you're still hungry," I commented as his stomach grumbled audibly.

"Hey, what can I say? I'm an eating machine!"

I rolled my eyes as he jokingly flexed his arms and made macho faces, but I couldn't keep the silly grin from sneaking across my features.

"I need to go grab some more money, so I'll see you a bit later?" he asked once we'd passed the canteen line and were standing at the top of the stands behind my classmates.

"Yeah, sure. See you later."

He held out a hand for an exaggerated high-five and I laughed as I slapped palms with him. Then he was gone, battling through the crowd of people flooding over to the canteen line.

"Alice?" I called, walking down the steps and keeping my eyes peeled for her spiky black hair.

She turned around at the sound of her name and I saw Leah was still sitting with her. I waved to Leah, still too far away to voice my hello, and she waved back along with Alice.

I eventually plopped down in the seat beside Leah, happy that I didn't have to pass the three J's on my way over. I quickly looked past Alice and Leah and saw that the three of them had their heads together, and were actually talking seriously to one another. Feeling slightly shocked that they were capable of proper speech; I leaned back in my chair and waited for Alice or Leah to present a break in their conversation so I could ask for one of them to pass over my bag.

"…won't say anything. So I'm thinking I'll just have to tell everyone _for_ him, I mean, it's not really that big of a deal, is it? We've known each other for ages," Leah was saying, but I hadn't caught the start of her little rant so I didn't understand.

"What's this?" I asked, intervening into a moment of silence in their chat. They both looked at me and I instantly felt rude for asking about something I probably had no right to know about.

"Leah was just telling me about her Dad's barbeque that he's trying to organise, and how shockingly badly he's doing about making a surprise for her mum." Alice nodded to Leah for her approval, and Leah cottoned on straight away.

I knew better than to point out how obvious the lie was. "Okay then. Alice, could you pass me my bag?"

"Yeah, sure." She reached over and pulled it up, and thankfully nothing fell out of the open zipper. "Here," she passed it across Leah's knees, who leaned back out of the way for her.

"Thanks," I said, taking it from her and pretending to busy myself in the bag. I found a banana and carefully peeled it, trying to ignore the voices beside me discussing fake barbeques.

When I had managed to lose myself in _The Passion Flower Massacre_, finally, I was interrupted.

"You're reading that, _again_?" Mike's voice came from just beside and behind me.

"Yep," I said, snapping it shut to look at him. "No more jobs?" I asked, thinking he was free for the lunch hour.

"Ha! I wish! He's giving me ten minutes to try and inhale my food, then I have to go and _wash the damn bus_. Does he not realise I actually have events to go in?"

"I think he does, but it's the spare seconds between events he's worried about!" Mike sulked at my words and I patted him on the cheek. "It's all good. He'll get over it eventually." I took another bite from my nearly-finished banana and looked across the grounds, again impressed by its size.

"Well, I hope he doesn't expect me to win much today, because I'm stuffed." He looked around, and I didn't know what he was looking for until he spotted something a few rows forward. "I'm gonna go get some lunch from the canteen. I'll see you soon, I hope." He kissed me on the cheek and leapt over the rows of seats until he reached his bag.

I laughed as Emmett snuck up beside him and caught him in a headlock, then yanked the twenty from Mike's exposed hand and bolted for the canteen. Once the two of them were out of sight I turned back to my book.

I decided to flip back to my favourite part, where Matilda was describing the flawlessly attractive Matt, but found myself unimpressed at the description because I could think of someone who was far better looking without even trying.

_I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend._

I looked up and noticed that Alice was now sitting beside me, and Leah was gone. Alice was munching on her sandwich, her eyes exposing the depth of her thoughts. She looked up at me after a moment of watching her, and smiled absent-mindedly.

"So, when do the running events start?" I asked, squirming in my seat to try and find my comprisable timetable. Alice whipped her own effortlessly from her pocket and read it quickly.

"Umm, my first event is at one o'clock."

"Okay. You've got ages then." I finally produced my timetable and saw that I was meant to be down to 'cheer' the team on at one as well, so I wasn't going to be late if I stuck with Alice.

"Lunch ends at one. We'll be fine." She kept chewing on her sandwich, but pulled out her phone. I caught her scanning through her 'L' contacts and assumed she was about to text Leah, so I quickly looked away and started burying myself back into my book.

Somehow, I managed to not be distracted for a long while, and got quite close to finishing the book (though to be fair, I did skip the parts I didn't like all that much). Alice suddenly knocked me in the arm, and pointed with a mouth full of food down at the running track where people were starting to gather. I shoved my things back into my bag and remembered to zip it shut before being shepherded out from between the seats.

"Alice," I said, noticing her shirt again because she'd removed a jacket I guessed Leah had leant to her because it had 'Port Angeles' scribbled across the back; "Where did you get that shirt from?"

"Oh, this," she said, looking down and pulling at the dark maroon material and the 'Dickies' label across the front. "Jacob gave it to me after my other one got juice on it."

I balked. "What? Jacob gave you his shirt?"

"No, silly," she said, laughing and letting her arms swing by her sides. "Jacob gave me _a_ shirt, not _his_ shirt."

"Whose is it then?"

"I dunno, I didn't ask."

I frowned slightly, but kept my lips together. Lending Alice a shirt was uncharacteristically kind of Jacob Black.

"Good, good, our star runner is here!"

I didn't even need to look around to know it was Coach Clapp who was happy at Alice's appearance.

"We've got to get into the zone, sir, try and keep it down," Emmett said seriously from behind the Coach, who was bouncing around the red running track with way too much enthusiasm for anyone – let alone a teacher.

"Oh, sorry, Mr Brandon,' Coach Clapp said in a whisper before retreating away.

I looked at Emmett, who gave us the thumbs up. I laughed quietly, and barely contained a louder laugh as he seized Tyler's leg (who was stretching against the fence) and started swinging him around. I sat down on the chairs lining the wall of the track, and Alice sat on her folded legs beside me.

There were people everywhere, but most of them were standing around talking or stretching or doing up running shoes. Alice was bouncing around beside me, excited _again_ about something, then jumped up suddenly and sprinted (more quickly than I've ever seen before) into a crowd of dark tracksuits.

Alice was squealing and chattering happily to Leah, who she had dragged a few feet from her band of school mates. But Leah wasn't the only one who'd broken away from the throng.

It took me a moment to work out who was walking over to join me, but once I _had_ worked it out my heart started kicking me in the throat. I swallowed hard and smiled as Sam sat beside me and Edward took Alice's empty chair. I noticed she was now jumping up and down on the spot with hand hands in Leah's. Leah was watching her with a laughing smile on her face.

"Hey, guys," I said, smiling at Sam and Edward in turn.

"Sorry, Bella, but you're the enemy now. We can't speak civilly anymore." Sam looked at me seriously and I believed him for a split second.

"So why are you sitting beside me?"

"Just trying to psych you out," Edward whispered from my other side.

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, so this means we're going to have to just sit here and say nothing for a while." Edward looked at me seriously and I rolled my eyes.

"Alice," I called out, and she spun around. "Could you come here please?"

I half expected the guys to run for it, but they didn't, they both just shrunk back slightly in their chairs. Leah came over with her and both girls stood in front of us, looking entirely non-threatening to me – but the fact that Leah had her arms cross and Alice had hers on her hips would have been a little scary to the boys.

"Are these guys giving you some trouble, Bella?" Leah said quietly. Sam didn't even try and hide his cringe as Leah eyed him with suspicion.

"Just a bit. Would you mind taking care of this one for me?"

Leah nodded and reached forward to seize Sam's ear, who winced and struck up a chorus of 'ow ow ow's as he was dragged unceremoniously back to the sea of dark uniforms. I looked at Edward and raised my eyebrows at him, asking if he wanted to be removed in a similar manner.

"I'll be good," he declared, throwing up his hands in surrender and smiling cheekily at me.

"Thank you Alice, I'll call you to help me out if I need help handling this one," I said, jabbing my thumb in Edward's direction.

Alice nodded and walked back to Leah, who was laughing as Sam rubbed his ear.

"I don't think anyone could handle me," he said sneakily. I rolled my eyes.

"When does your first event start?" I asked, wondering how the boy's and girl's events were being separated.

"Mine starts at one," he said, not needing to check his scrap of times and events.

"One?" I said, confused. There must have been a mix up. "Are you sure?"

He pulled his paper from his pocket and showed it to me. I saw that it was right, his event _was_ due to start at one.

"Huh," was all I said, wondering if maybe Alice's was wrong.

There was suddenly a horrible screeching of static in the speakers all around the stadium, before a scuffle was heard through the amplifiers.

"…give it to me, Alex, thank you." The man cleared his throat and spoke directly into the microphone. "Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to the twenty-sixth annual Inter-School Athletics Carnival, here on this lovely Saturday in Seattle… Now. To start with, we have the Under Twenty-One and Under Eighteen one-hundred metre sprints. I understand that there was a lack of willing runners this year, so for both events both boys and girls have been assigned to the same running slot to save time. Runners, please be ready in five minutes to take your places. That is all."

There was more static as the microphone was turned off. Edward and I turned to each other at the same time.

"I'm running against Alice, aren't I?"

"You're running against Alice."

"Crap."

I smiled, but managed not to laugh as I saw the possibilities sweep across his face.

"Do you know how humiliating this will be if I lose?"

"Oh, it's not that bad. Alice may be a girl, but she's just as fierce as men on the field."

"That really doesn't help you know."

I laughed. "I know."

Edward started pulling off his tracksuit pants then, and I nearly fell off my seat as I turned away, embarrassed. Edward laughed when he realised I was covering my eyes with my hands.

"I'm wearing shorts underneath, Bella."

"I still think it's a better idea if I don't see you getting undressed, Edward," I replied in the same tone.

"Okay," he said, and I could hear the shrug in his voice. "Your loss."

A minute later he still hadn't told me if he was finished changing yet, so I reluctantly asked.

"Done yet?"

"Yeah, I'm dressed now."

I removed my hand from my face and looked beside me for him, but had to redirect my vision to the ground, because he was sitting, stretching.

"Can't risk an injury, can we?" he said when he noticed I had my eyes open.

"You really _could_, if you were feeling sympathetic to the other schools. But hey, I'll never understand male competitiveness."

"And I'll never understand girls' and fashion," he said quietly, looking at Alice as she strode over, wearing tiny bike shorts and the same Dickies shirt Jacob had leant to her.

"Good luck," she said, holding out a hand to Edward, who was still on the ground.

"From what I've heard of you, I'm going to need it," Edward smiled, taking her hand.

Alice nodded and headed back to where she'd come from, and I noticed for the first time that our respective school friends had melted together and were happily chatting to each other, despite obvious school rivalries. As I watched, Paul was caught in a headlock by Emmett.

"Paul's not having the best day," I commented, watching as Emmett let him go then ruffled his hair as Paul stumbled to keep himself vertical.

The loudspeakers crackled again, and the same voice as before announced that the runners should be taking their places now. Everyone cleared the track, and Edward headed down to the starting blocks at the other end of the running lanes once I'd given him a hand-slapping 'good luck'. I noted for the first time that I was sitting just in front of the finishing line, and that this would give me a good advantage to see who was going to come first.

Alice headed down the other end with Edward, as did six or so other people I didn't recognise wearing various uniforms. Alice and Edward stood in lanes beside each other, and on Alice's other side stood a tall guy with black hair. Alice seemed to recognise him and I wondered if he was the cutie from the canteen line.

"READY?" boomed a voice from the other end of the track. The same person raised their hand and pointed a cap-gun into the air. "SET," he shouted, then the gun went off with a loud BANG.

The cheering around me, both from the stands behind and the spectators standing on the edge of the track, was deafeningly loud. I couldn't tell from my angle who was coming first, but as they got closer I could see that Edward and Alice were neck and neck for first place. Coming second was a well-built girl with her cherry hair in a high pony-tail, third was the black-haired guy, forth was a slight-looking guy with black hair, next was a tall girl with corkscrew-curls flying out behind her and the remaining two green and yellow uniforms were bringing up the rear. The announcer hadn't been joking when he'd commented on the lack of people competing.

I snapped back into reality when I saw that the finishing ribbon had been broken, and that it was very close between Edward and Alice. I stood up to get a better view, and saw that Alice and Edward's respective time keepers were arguing over something. Alice was dancing around on the spot, obviously on a high from her sprint, and Edward was standing beside her, watching calmly as she cirlcled around him, chanting something.

They were then called to the time-keepers table, but I didn't see any more because people started sprawling onto the track again and my view was blocked.

I waited patiently, and Alice soon came skipping through the crowd to sit beside me.

"Guess what?" She said, clearly excited.

"What?"

"We drew," Edward interrupted, appearing from within the crowd.

"Wow, way to go Alice!" I congratulated her, slapping her heartily on the back.

"Oh, thanks Bella, I feel really special now!" Edward said, pretending to sulk.

I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled. "You did really well too, Edward."

"Thankyou." He smiled a heart-swelling smile and I had to look away before the building giddiness got the better of me.

"Come on Bella, you should be organising the relay team or something," Alice said, pulling me by the hand towards the gate leading up to the stands.

"Okay. See you later, Edward!" I called over my shoulder, and I saw Edward's smiling face disappear as I was shoving my way through the crowd.

Alice managed to keep me successfully occupied with small duties for a long time, and I didn't see anyone for about an hour; not Ally, Tyler, Emmett, Mike or Edward. I had to keep hitting myself in the leg as punishment every time I caught my thoughts wandering to Edward.

"Right, now, go down and make sure everyone who's in the relay is where they're supposed to be," Alice instructed, shoving the folder into my hands and giving me a gentle push toward the gate.

The same tired voice droned through the loudspeakers that the four-person relay was about to begin, and that all competitors should start taking their positions. I went down and started searching for everyone, and found Emmett easily as he was towering over the rest of the group.

"Emmett," I said, smacking him high on his shoulder to get his attention. He turned around and listened without speaking. "You need to be over the other side of the track." He started heading over, so I called to him, "You'll be getting the marker from Ally, and giving it to Alice!"

He signalled over his shoulder by giving me the thumbs up to let me know he'd heard me.

Ally appeared by my side then, and I looked down at my little diagram. "Ally, you'll be here," I said, pointing to the second runner's place.

"Okay. Do I go now?" she asked, and I nodded. She looked back at the diagram. "So, get it from Tyler and give it to Emmett. Okay?" She walked away to her place on the track, and I started my search for Tyler.

"Tyler!" I yelled, seeing him standing with Alice, Jared and Kim. "Tyler," I called to get his attention.

"Yeah?"

"You're the first runner. Go over to the finishing line, because that's where you need to be." I gave him a push and he looked completely lost. "Ugh," I said, feeling frustrated. "Go over there," I said, pointing to the timekeeper's tent. "Get the stick or whatever that you have to run with, and give it to Ally when they tell you to."

"Okay," he said brightly, understanding.

"Get your phone out of your pocket!" I shrieked at him, seeing it flying back and forth in his pocket as he walked. He grinned and turned around to throw it back to me, but Alice was nice enough to jump in front of my already full hands and snatch it out of the air.

"Here," she said, dropping it into my jacket pocket.

"Thanks," I said, exasperated. "Now, you need to be-" I started, but Alice cut me off in a calm voice.

"I'm the fourth runner, I need to be over there," she said, pointing, "and I receive it from Emmett. Don't worry Bella, we'll do fine." She patted me on the arm and headed over to her place, still exerting calm-vibes.

I stood like a rabbit caught in the headlights for a moment, then snapped out of it and rushed over to where Tyler was standing, waiting to start. Just as I put my clip board down and the jitters were beginning to build, I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the starter's whistle.

"PLACES!" he yelled, fixing his earmuffs over his head. Tyler held the titanium rod tightly in his hand and put one foot up to the line. I noticed that the first of the Port Angeles runners was Leah, and that there was an assortment of boys and girls as each team's first runners.

"READY?" shrieked the man with the cap-gun, and I swallowed convulsively, even thought I wasn't doing any of the real work.

"SET!" he yelled again, and everyone at the starting line crouched a little lower.

BANG! went the gun, and they were off. Tyler was extremely fast, and was only outdoing the other runners by a small distance.

He reached Ally first, and she was off like lightning, fortunately not dropping the rod as she tore up the track to Emmett. Port Angeles' second runner, Paul, was close behind her, but Ally was increasing the distance between them every second. I was proud to see her doing so well.

Emmett may seem bulky on his feet, but he was very fluid on the running track. Unfortunately, however, not quick enough to outdo Kim, who was pushing herself and had half a body-length advantage on the boy when each of them gave their rods to their last runners; Alice and Edward.

I actually stopped breathing as the two of them ran all the way around. Alice managed to work her little feet fast enough to catch up to Edward. The both of them were moving so quickly that they were almost a blur. I was about to squeal with frustration at drawing _again_, but Alice managed to produce something magnificent and _just_ got ahead of Edward, causing the small population of Forks students to scream and stamp their feet with our marginal victory.

I leapt up from my seat and weaved my way to Alice, who was laughing beside Edward. Edward had his hands on his knees to hold himself up, and I didn't realise why until I saw what Alice was wearing on her feet.

"Alice!" I shrieked, staring at her feet. "You ran in _heels?!_"

"And she beat me!" Edward exclaimed, and I saw that he was leaning on his knees not from tiredness but from laughter.

"You-" I started to threaten, but couldn't finish my scolding sentence. "You are brilliant!" I leapt forward and hugged her tightly, shocked that she was faster in pointy-toed heels than in a pair of runners. "Incredible," I said as I pulled back and looked at her feet.

"Well done, Alice," Edward said, and he extended a hand to her. I smiled, aware that most of the male population would have been furious at the simple _idea_ of being beaten by a girl. And in heels too!

Emmett appeared then, and Alice was suddenly squealing and beating her fists on his back as he swung her around. Emmett struck up a tune of 'she's a jolly good fellow…' and carried her away to the group of our friends, leaving Edward and I alone.

"Congrats," I said sincerely, holding out a hand. He stared at it for a moment, then looked up to my face.

"I couldn't help myself," he said, instantly confusing me.

"Huh? For what?"

"For this," he clarified, seizing me around the middle and slinging me over his shoulder to follow Emmett. I started laughing hysterically, too weak with laughter to fight, because my ticklish factor had been re-awoken when he'd grabbed me.

When he finally set me down, I slumped to the floor, gasping for air between giggles.

"Is she alright?" Tyler said, leaning down to peer at me.

"Just triumphant," Edward replied solemnly, trying and failing to pull me up.

A minute later Coach Clapp announced it was time to get back onto the bus, so I forced myself to sober up, and Alice helped me find my bag because every sudden movement would cause me to burst out in automatic giggles again.

I sat down near the same place I had been this morning, and expected Alice to sit by me, but found the Edward beat her to it. I wriggled over to try and keep some personal space between us, but like this morning, every time I created more room he just moved to bridge the gap.

"I'm really tired," I said suddenly, looking out the window at the lights of the city starting to come on.

"You've been doing a lot today," Edward said obviously, and I felt his laughter shake the chair.

"Shush, you-" I threatened, but it was cut off by my yawn.

"Go to sleep, Bella," he said. I turned around nervously but Edward pushed me back into the seat. "They've resumed their rubber-band war. Don't worry."

"Okay," I yawned again. Then the last thing I remember was leaning against the window as I fell asleep, and knowing that my shoulder was going to be very sore from the ridge along the wall of the bus when I woke up.

* * *

**Well! That was extremely long, no? I hope you all enjoyed it! Give me your feedback, as always, in reviews!**

**Love you all!**

**And don't forget; I love receiving questions, and observations...**

**-Shaps**


	13. New and Old

**Hello! Oh my goodness, over 180 reviews, you guys are trippin' me out!! (Yeah, that was my lame attempt at using the 'cool people' language lol.)**

**And the foreverly awesome reviewers are:**

**mrsjacobblack91, Screams-At-Midnight, Muff'Nbutter, Ghosts in the Snow, dollegirl, Rawliin, Intoxicated By His Presence (x2), sweet333249, CrazZy-BunNy, Rommy, PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O., mari alice, Lianna Weschester, lostchildslight, Child-Of-God13, x-aly-x, tthrai01, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, booknerd14, edwardluva234, smile for the paparazzi, yaaaay, BellaAtHeartt, pierce.me.through.with.sadness, jacob is the new black, jannifier potter, bedwardforever, laibballfan, AlwaysAround888, Reality's only a State of Mind.**

**Special Mentions:**

**Screams-At-Midnight: Haha, 'pea sized brain', love it!**

**Muff'Nbutter: Fifty points! Your assumptions are correct :-)**

**dollegirl: Bahahaha, I love how you creatively come up with ways for Mike Newton to die in each review!**

**Rawliin: Aww, thankyou for such a sweet review! I'm the same; I can't walk in heels either. But I try, I really do!**

**Intoxicated By His Presence: I liked your insight on the Jacob/Leah imprinting thing! It's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks that way :-)**

**Rommy: Aww, thank you Rommermann! I'm going to fail this upcoming exam regardless; so I thought I might as well update!**

**mari alice: Very insightful review, maybe you'd share Alice's power if you were turned, eh? Lol.**

**Lianna Weschester: I reckon! I loved the steroids crack too - when I thought of it I was like "Go Team Shaps!"**

**Child-Of-God13: Oooooohhh, you're soooo close to being right!**

**x-aly-x: Lol, your review made me laugh, especially when you mentioned the thing about falling off the chair onto the floor! Bella's too shy to ask for Edward's number, plus she has a boyfriend and wouldn't it be a little suss if she did that too? Lol. I'd be soooo scared that my boyfriend (however boganistic he may be) would find out!**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Mike is going down soon! Soon, I promise! I'm from the merry old land of Australia, so yeah, I talk weird lol. And I mess around with like metres and feet measurements and stuff all the time!!**

**yaaaay: Aww, thankyou, I was a bit proud of my Emmett projection :-)**

**BellaAtHeart: I love watching guys do long jump, they're strangely graceful or something and it's just beautiful. I hope that doesn't sound too weird!**

**pierce.me.through.with.sadness: Fifty points to you too!! Your observations were correct, and you'll be hearing about the sleep talking soon lol**

**jacob is the new black: I love your penname!! It's great :-) and yes, there will be AlicexJasper in this story, but not for a little while. She still hates him right now.**

**jennifier potter: Hahahaha, assorted blunt objects... well, I guess you're smart for not identifying it in case force is necessary and the police do a bit of researching!**

**Reality's only a State of Mind: Aww, thanks for your gorgeous review!! I felt all smiley and stuff after reading it, lol. You're half right about the shirt observation, Bella and Mike will break up in the next few chapters, and Coach Clapp only loves Alice. I thought it would be an amusing touch to add in a weird teacher-crush lol.**

**Well, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it even though it's not as long as the last one!! Sorry if I sent anyone to sleep, by the way, lol. Remember to review!!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: New and Old**

* * *

**_Dear Bella,_**

**_Hey again! I hope you're feeling better – you looked a little sick when I had to wake you. You know, to get you to let go of me so I could get off the bus at school on Saturday? I hope everything's okay now though?_**

**_As you can obviously tell, I managed to persuade our Coach to let me get hold of my letter from the front office when we got back on Saturday so I could write you a more up-to-date one, and here it is!_**

**_Speaking of Saturday, how wicked was it? I can't believe Port Angeles won over all, it must have been all me (sarcasm!). But seriously, how weird was that? I was sure one of the private schools was going to clean up. There weren't even that many people there, it was really strange._**

**_I forgot to tell you why Leah wouldn't allow Alice to show you those pictures she sent – but when I asked her about she said something lame like 'I wanted you two to get to know each other face to face rather than worrying over pictures' which I guess isn't that lame when you think about it… but still! How superstitious does she want to be?_**

**_Well, since you fell asleep pretty quickly on the bus on the way home, I didn't get the chance to tell you how every one else went. Paul got third in the javelin event – Sam came first. I think your friend Emmett came second – but apparently that was because he insisted on throwing it as high into the air as he could as opposed to how far forward he could get it._**

**_Oh well, it sounded like he had fun doing it! Um, everyone else did pretty well, Leah and Kim were furious at the measuring-guy for their long-jump event, apparently he stuff it up more than once. I was scared of them for a good hour after that._**

**_Uhh, I can't really think of anything else – it IS Sunday, after all! Saturday was a long time ago, in my opinion._**

**_I've got to keep this short, I've got homework to catch up on, and tomorrow I'm going to have to wake up early so I can get to school in time for your teacher or whatever to collect our letters to take over to Forks. I hope this gets to you on Monday; otherwise I will have wasted a morning by not sleeping-in!_**

**_Sorry for the dodgy reply! Hopefully your brain is working better than mine._**

**_Speak to you soon, have a good week,_**

**_Edward Masen._**

**_(PS, Do your clothes smell like boys now, after that bus ride home?)_**

**_._**

**_--_**

**_._**

Tuesday after Athletics Day

Bella,

I'm so, so sorry about Saturday. Coach Clapp was being a total dingus, and, well, I don't really have an excuse good enough for the lack of time we spent together at the Athletics thing. Do you forgive me? :-)

So, now that I've started writing, I can't think of a lot to say, even though I had tons of stuff in my head when I got this bright idea. Well, I didn't actually get the idea, Angela gave it to me but told me not to say that – whoops – oh well. I don't think you really mind that I didn't think of it, do you? Because I'm actually doing it myself, right?

Anyway. I'm making myself sound like a twit, so I'll get to the point.

I know that since our parents had dinner together, things have been a little weird between us, and with good reason. I acted like a jerk, and I'm sorry. I should have stuck up for you in front of my parents, but I just froze, and I didn't know how to react properly so I took it out on you, which was totally wrong of me. I'm really, really sorry Bella. I know that you would probably say its fine, that you'd forgotten about it, and that there's nothing wrong if I'd apologised face to face, but I didn't want you to do that because I really want to apologise.

And considering you didn't really give me the time of day yesterday at school, I'm guessing there's more going on in your pretty little head than I'll ever understand, being a guy and all. But I'd like to, one day, maybe?

Anyway, I just want you to know that I'm really sorry, and I'm going to do my absolute best to make it up to you.

I'll speak to you soon, beautiful,

Mike xoxo.

.

--

.

_Dear Edward,_

_It was good to get a reply – well, an up to date one anyway. It would have been funny to read something you'd written before we'd actually met, thought I wouldn't mind reading it anyway…?_

_Saturday was much better than I'd hoped. It didn't rain, which is always a plus, and not only that but the weather was kind enough to actually reveal the sun!_

_Oh, and I told you Alice could kick your butt in heels! I wonder who put her up to the challenge, was it you? Because if she had hurt herself, I would have put the fool into a coma on her behalf. Not really, but you get my gist! I shouldn't have said that, because if you actually put her up to the challenge, there's no way you're going to own up to it now!_

_Oh my goodness. I'm so, so sorry about falling asleep on you. I hope I didn't sleep talk; that would have been mortifying! Seriously, tell me if I did. I want to know if I have reason to cringe every time someone mentions a bus now. Alice won't tell me if I said anything, so please be kind…?_

_Well, this has to be a first. I am writing this reply to you out of school hours! No lesson is taking a hit – though I'm using this as an excuse to avoid doing my calculus. I hate that subject. I cannot wait until my life is totally calculus-free. Instead of sneakily writing when the teacher isn't looking, I'm outside on my favourite wooden chair with a million layers of clothing on. Charlie – my dad – has got his friend Billy over and his son is with them. I'm not really looking forward to having to deal with him, as we're not the best of friends, so dealing with the cold outside seems better than staying in the same room as Jacob Black._

_Ugh. I think I just heard Charlie calling my name. Hopefully he's going to tell me they've left – nope, no such luck. Jacob had just appeared and looks like he wants to read what I'm writing._

_This is Agent Klutz, signing out, (where did that come from?)_

_Bella Swan._

_(PS, Yes, my clothes did smell horrible, but I managed to make it go away after the fifth load through the washing machine was done.)_

.

--

.

"Hey Swan," Jacob said, sitting down beside me.

"Jacob," I said stiffly, hoping to repel him with my lack of communication. I carefully folded my letter and put it down on the table beside me, out of Jacob's curious reach.

"How are you?" he said politely, and I was thrown off balance at his niceness. I turned to him and sighed.

"What is it, Jacob?"

He looked at me innocently. "What? Can't a guy come and say hello to his father's best friend's daughter?"

"After years of pretending I don't exist, I would think not," I said, crossing my arms and looking away stubbornly.

"I _do_ talk to you!"

I turned to him and laughed mockingly. "Yeah, trying to crack onto me doesn't count. You're not the same person you used to be, and frankly, I don't want to know the new you."

He was silent, and I looked over to him, feeling a mixture of irritation and regret and annoyance at the pained look on his face.

"Fine. If that's how you want it."

He rose to go back inside, but I'd spoken before I was able to stop myself, like it was a reaction rather than a real apology.

"Jake, stop. I'm sorry. That was a bit harsh." He stopped and turned, smiling a faintly recognisable grin. "So, tell me a story," I said, huddling into my chair and hoping to listen rather than contribute to the conversation I'd just thrown myself into.

"What do you want to talk about?" he said, leaning back in his chair and pulling his coat tighter around his body.

"Um," I said, thinking as I watched the little bugs zoom into the porch light then fall to the ground, dazed, before getting up and repeating the exercise. "How was your Saturday?" My mind seemed to be living in that day and it was hard to change the habit.

Jake shifted in his chair and I smiled slightly, knowing he was feeling a bit uncomfortable, and so he should be. "It was pretty good. I forgot to go to my event, but it was only javelin and I know Emmett would have won that anyway, so there wasn't really any point."

I smiled at him by reaction, thinking of how similar he was to me - with the assumption of Emmett being victorious, that is. He continued talking, and I closed my eyes, watching the little pinpricks of light dance behind my eyelids.

"Jasper came first in the high jump, I think it was, and James got second or third in the hurdles. I didn't go and watch them because I was talking to Alice for a while when the two of them were gone."

I sat up suddenly. "What?"

"When Jasper and James were at their events, I was talking to Alice," he clarified.

I thought for a moment. Alice said Jacob had given her a shirt – I ought to have guessed that he wouldn't have done such a nice thing in front of the others. "When was this?" I asked, trying to think where I was when their conversation would have taken place.

"It was just after she got hit with the orange, so some time in the morning."

Hmm. I must have been talking with Ally then. "Okay. What did you talk about?"

"Well, I gave her one of Jasper's shirts-"

"What?!" I yelled, nearly falling off my chair with shock. "_Jasper's_ shirt? Did she know it was his?" I almost yelled at him across the small space.

"Calm down!" he said, pushing me back into my seat with one hand. "Yes, she knew it was Jasper's, and she actually asked to make sure it was his. I think she had a fair point, he _was_ the one to throw it and get her shirt all sticky in the first place."

My mind whirled. _What the hell? Alice_ requesting _a shirt of Jasper's?_

"Huh. Alright then, keep talking." I tried to make myself shut up by clamping my mouth together tightly.

"So she went to the toilets and came back a second later with the other shirt on." He tightened his grip on his jacket and looked over at me in the available light as he spoke. "We kept talking, and she said she promised to come to the party Jasper and I are throwing in a few weeks, and she asked if she could bring some friends with her, and I said that was fine as long as they didn't plan on torching Jasper's house. She laughed and told me that no, they were tame and wouldn't be lighting anything on fire.

"So we were talking for ages, until her little friend with black hair came over and I got hungry so I left. When I came back Jasper was there, and he was muttering to himself holding his face where he got slapped for being a jerk. I just laughed and told him that he wasn't going to get anywhere in life if he kept pulling out crappy one-liners."

I laughed, feeling myself get back into the comfortable groove Jake and I had had years ago.

"What did you do?" he asked me, sounding genuinely interested.

I didn't really know what to say to that. I decided to be truthful, but bend it slightly.

"I met up with my pen pal from Port Angeles, and spent a fair bit of time over at their school's area getting to know some new people. Alice and Leah, her pen pal, spent most of their day together, and I also went and watched Mike at the long-jump event. Coach Clapp was on Mike's back all day because he caught me and Mike together in the morning so I didn't see a lot of him. It was pretty uneventful. Except for in the afternoon, when the running races were on and Alice goes and wins the relay event for us in _heels_ of all things. I couldn't believe it!"

Jake started laughing. "She actually did it? I thought she was just joking when she made that bet with Jasper. That's heaps funny!" he said, still laughing.

_So Jasper's the culprit._ I should have guessed; Alice was never one to turn down a bet.

"That silly girl. She could have broken her leg or something."

"It _is_ Alice though. She might as well have them welded to her feet."

I grinned, surprised that he knew so much about her. _Maybe he likes her?_ _Let's find out_, I thought to myself.

"So, Jacob, who do you have your eye on these days?" I asked, watching him carefully to see if he was going to lie or not. He seemed thoughtful, but I didn't see any traces indicating an untruth when he replied.

"No one, really, there aren't a lot of decent, available girls."

Okay, so he _didn't_ have a thing for Alice. "Aww, come on, there are girls out there. You just have to keep your eyes peeled for them," I said, trying to sound encouraging.

"All the good ones are taken," he said regretfully. I picked up on his tone and tried to steer the topic away from where I thought it was going.

"What about Jessica? Or Lauren? They're both, uh, very… nice?"

I didn't even sound convincing to myself; far from it in fact. Jake laughed and looked over at me.

"Nice try, Bella, but I really don't have my eye on anyone. Plus, it's high school, and not a lot comes out of high school relationships anyway." I thought I heard regret in his voice, but before I could think about it too much, Charlie scared the life out of me by banging the screen door open.

"…just get them now!" he called over his shoulder to who could only be Billy. "Hey, Jake," he said brightly. "We need a hand carrying your dad's chair out to the car."

"Sure thing, Charlie," Jake said, standing up.

There was a muffled call from inside the house, and Charlie disappeared through the door again. I could feel the unrepeatable moment between Jake and I disappearing, so I decided to throw aside my inhibitions for just a few seconds. I stood up and called Jake back just as he was reaching for the door handle.

"Yeah?" he said, turning back.

I threw the blanket I'd been holding around myself to the ground and jumped forward to hug him, feeling inexplicably happy. He took a moment, but hugged me back, though not in the way we used to when we were best friends.

"I'll miss you," I said, pulling back. I let go of him quickly and could feel the embarrassment creeping into my cheeks so I bent down to retrieve the blanket from the ground to hide my face.

"Me too," he said. I could tell he knew exactly what I meant, and that he also knew how things were going to be once we saw each other at school the next day. He smiled then, no; it was more of a grimace, and turned back to the door. "Might see you later, Bella."

"Yeah," I said. Then Jake was gone. I found myself alone again, with the bugs flying mindlessly into the light.

--

The next morning at school I dreaded the fact that Calculus would be beginning my day and Gym would be ending it. The rain had unavoidably returned, and I found myself sneezing up a storm as I pushed open the front office doors. As usual, there was barely anyone there, but Mrs Cope smiled in a mild morning manner as I strode to the little blue shoe box and dropped in my letter. I felt very glad that I'd thought to hold it under my jacket on the way over, otherwise Edward would have a very hard time trying to decipher my messy writing if it were smudged too.

* * *

**Well!! Some of your suspicions were confirmed in that chapter, and I hope you're happy with where the story is going. We'll find out what Bella said while sleep-talking soon, in Edward's reply (about three chapters away). I'll give you all a teaser of the next chapter here:**

**"I carefully opened the door, which was open, and locked it behind me before trying to be quiet as I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it onto the only available peg. I balked as I saw an unfamiliar jacket there on the usually vacant end peg, and looked more closely, realising with a sick feeling in my stomach that Charlie was not the reason the kitchen light was still on."**

**Ooooohhh!! Exciting!!**

**Review, and let me know what you think!**

**Love you all!!**

**-Shaps**


	14. Masks

**Oh my Carlisle!! You guys are beyond awesome, seriously, I have almost 210 reviews!! It's amazing I tell you, amazing, and my cheeks are actually hurting from smiling so much as I read through my inbox just a moment ago!!**

**By the by, my notifications for reviews weren't coming through when I posted chapter 13 - so I think there must have been a glitch with the site because a few of you mentioned not receiving alerts for new chapters and whatnot. I had a flood in my inbox today, so I think it's all good now.**

**So, down to business, the reviews are (and I'm so excited, I have new reviewers!!):**

**ForeverWasteAway, Rommy, Yardley, laibballfan, bedwardforever, Screams-At-Midnight, allpresent, Intoxicated By His Presence, Ghosts in the Snow, yaaaay, dollegirl, FrEvrNvrLasts (x2), MelissaTheTwilightFan, mrsjacobblack91, Child-Of-God13, vampiressuck, SilasPrince, edwardluva234, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, Music ADD (x2), jennifier potter, 143twilighter.**

**Special Mentions:**

**ForeverWasteAway: Hahahaha, Omigosh, you are totally my fav reviewer atm! You two PM's were funny as, plus, I got all excited when I saw that someone had PM'd me!! You know what's really trippy though? I actually got my inspiration for this crazy-style of story FROM Finding Cassie Crazy - and also Feeling Sorry for Celia - I LOVE those books. And I like Jacob too!! I wanted him to start off being a tool (in this story, obviously), and for us to witness his transformation of sorts... so it's good to hear that the message is coming through! My fav part of your second PM was thus: "I was relieved you stayed away from the whole cliched 'Mike cheats on Bella with Jessica, Lauren, two gremlins and a merman in a bouncy castle' type thing." ****  
Bahahahahahahahahahahaha!! Don't worry, I won't resort to that. I have something far more 'believable' up my sleeve.  
Yes, I am Aussie too - I love saying 'dodgy'! As for the 'aural' and 'oral' thing - I don't physically know any American's - so I don't know how they pronounce 'aural'. Maybe 'are-al'? Dunno. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Rommy: Seriously Rom, I'm going to fail. But somehow I don't care that I'm going to fail - cos there's nothing I can do about it. I mean, I'm on the computer when I'm meant to be studying... what does that say? Hahaha. Oh well. Next year I'll try harder.**

**bedwardforever: Yes, yes, there will definitely be romance between Edward and Bella. But I'm not going to throw them straight into it... I want you guys to pine for the moment where they get together!! Is it working?**

**allpresent: Hahahahahahahahaha, your review was fantastic! Loved it! Had me laughing for yonks! (That means 'ages', in case someone thinks I'm a clack jawed hillbilly I wish!)**

**Intoxicated By His Presence: Awwww, you searched for my story cos you didn't get an update? That's dedication!! hug that makes me feel all gooey and pink-cheeked, lol.**

**dollegirl: Hahaha, javelin through the chest - you could be one hell of a horror movie director!! (Haha... lame pun... 'hell' and 'horror movie'...) JasperxAlice will definitely happen, but be patient; because trust me - it's one hell of a 'reunion'.**

**MelissaTheTwilightFan: Sigh, such a observational mind... you're right - but I won't tell you _how_ right you are, just yet. Hehe.**

**Child-Of-God13: Ooooohhhhh, soooo close!! But no, no cheating in this story. I've seen it in too many other fanfics, so I'm taking the road less travelled with this one. The calling Edward part... oooohhh, I can't give it away. But you're SO close!**

**FrEvrNvrLasts: Lol, I'm glad someone else stays up late reading fanfics too, I thought I was like some kind of weirdo cos I do it all the time!!**

**vampiressuck: You're the only one questioning the whole Jacob being nice thing! Observancy, I like it; he's being nice because of something to do with Alice... Patience, my dear, patience!**

**jennifier potter: First off- I'm SO so so so sorry for misspelling your name in the last chapter! I realised afterwards and I was like :-O 'idiot!'. Lol, searches for object to shield self from blunt object with**

**Music ADD: YESS!! Jake hearts Bella.**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Masks**

* * *

"Just a few more, come _on_ Bella, I know your legs haven't given out yet," Alice nagged as she tried to yank me up from the store's waiting chair. I blatantly refused her, shaking my head like a child and eyeing the bags surrounding my feet like they could explode at any moment.

It was Saturday, and Alice had succeeded in getting me out of the house. I'd almost forgotten about the day which would only end with sore feet and a considerably lighter cash count – that was, until she had called me on Friday night to give me warning about what time she was going to be picking me up.

Shockingly, Charlie had thought it was a good idea to let Alice loose in the house _before dawn_, and he hadn't even had to put up with my loud complaints because he was out fishing.

_Stupid, intelligent father._

So far, I'd been into more shops than I could care to count, and tried on more masquerade-themed items than I knew existed. Alice already had her outfit; a gold, white and black dress with a pretty golden mask. I wanted something dark and plain and _unnoticeable_, but Alice wouldn't hear of it.

"Stop sooking. The quicker you get up, the quicker we can leave."

I looked at her with pleading eyes, but she just gave me an unsympathetic glance while she tapped her foot and waited for me to gather the bags around my feet.

"Can I have something to eat?" I asked, thinking that it would guarantee me at least a ten minute break.

"Hmm." She was actually considering it. "Okay. But not a long one."

The relief was clear on my face. I thought of a real chair, and a table on which I could lay my head. I suddenly bounced to my feet and snatched up the bags with as much vigour as Alice would have had if there were news of a sale. I couldn't wait to relax.

"That's the spirit!" she said grandly, following me out the store as I made a beeline for the food court.

Everyone who saw me coming moved quickly out of the way. Some people even appeared alarmed by me – but whether that was from my expression, speed, or the excess bags hanging from my arms and even around my neck I didn't know.

It seemed Alice's credit card held no limits, but why would it? Her parents could afford to buy the little speed demon a _Porsche_ for goodness sake. That car probably _was _a good idea; she needed the spacious boot of the thing to fit in the products of her constant shopping sprees. She could probably shove three bodies in there with room for a day's shopping left aside.

"Right," I said, plopping down on a bench-sized chair and laying the bags out beside me. "I feel like a small thingy of popcorn chicken, and a bottle of lemonade." I started digging around to find my purse, but Alice was gone by the time I looked up again. I sighed, for many reasons, but the main one being that I wasn't going to have to listen to more shopping suggestions for at least five minutes while Alice was gone.

"Bella?" came a familiar voice. I turned around and saw Emmett standing a little way away with his arm wrapped lovingly around Rosalie.

"Hey, guys," I said, trying to shove some bags into the non-existent space so they could sit down.

Emmett laughed and pulled a couple of chairs from another table to the end of my own. "How long have you been here?" he asked, knowing that we were going shopping today because Alice's motor mouth would have informed him of it long ago.

"A long time. All morning. And by all morning, I mean _all morning_." I exhaled loudly, but composed myself enough to smile at Rosalie. "What are you guys here for?" I asked her, trying to be friendly.

She looked down at the table as she answered, obviously a little shy. "Well, Emmett said we're going to some party in a couple of weeks, and since we had nothing better to do this weekend I thought we could look in a few shops today."

"Plus, we're going to see a movie tonight, and I'm taking Rose out for dinner," Emmett added, smiling at his girlfriend.

"Just looking?" I clarified, looking around their feet for the bags which weren't there.

"Yeah," she said, eyeing the bags surrounding me with a mildly pained expression. "Do you want a hand with those?" she offered. I smiled like she was an angel sent from heaven and nodded.

"Yes, if you wouldn't mind. I would love you both for _ever and ever_." My hands seemed to tingle with the knowledge that they weren't going to have to carry painful plastic handles for much longer.

"Okay. Have you got the keys to Alice's car?" Emmett asked me.

I shook my head. "Alice should be back in a minute anyway. Thanks heaps for doing this, really. I _really_ appreciate it," I said, knowing I sounded slightly desperate, but also knowing that Alice's shopping trips seemed to bring out that part of me.

"Why don't you just use shopping trolleys?" Emmett offered, leaning over to look into one of the branded bags I had no idea about.

"Shush!" I cussed, practically falling off my seat to make sure Alice wasn't anywhere within hearing range. "Never, ever let Alice hear you mention the 't' word. _Ever_. You won't be able to hear an atomic bomb once she's shouted your ear off," I whispered, keeping an eye out for Alice's quick little frame.

"Why-" Emmett started, but I cut him off deliberately because I saw Alice appear a few tables away.

"So, Rosalie, what are you thinking of wearing to the masquerade?" I asked, trying to sound innocent. Emmett looked at me with a very confused face.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking of red and silver at the moment, but I haven't seen anything I love yet."

"I'm wearing a tux," Emmett announced proudly. I rolled my eyes.

"What alternative is there for you?" I asked him, and he immediately smiled like the cogs in his mind were turning very quickly.

"I _was_ thinking of a strapless number and maybe borrowing some of Rose's heels-" he started, but was cut short by a smack upside the head, happily supplied by Rosalie.

"In your dreams," she said as Alice pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Hey guys," she said, pushing popcorn chicken and a bottle of soft drink across the table to me. She didn't sound surprised, so I guessed that either she'd seen them on her way over or Emmett had mentioned it to her before hand.

I greedily snatched the food and started digging in, knowing in the back of my mind that I was going to feel the effects of eating too fast soon enough, but not caring because I was so damned hungry.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked, flipping open the corners of some chips she'd gotten for herself. Emmett reached out for one but she promptly slapped his hand away.

"Shopping for the masquerade thing," Rosalie said, randomly pushing Emmett in his arm without looking at him until he was nearly past his centre of gravity. "We offered to carry your bags out to your Porsche, Alice, if you'd like? We're not in a hurry." Emmett nearly slipped off his chair but caught himself, grabbing Rosalie's hand and pulling her to his chest as he did so. Rose started laughing.

"Oh, really? That's be awesome! We could spend a lot more time shopping if you did that."

I spluttered on my drink, and Alice looked at me like she had been expecting as much.

"Kidding," she said, smacking me on the back while I coughed.

"Not funny," I said, diving back into the popcorn chicken.

Alice reached back into her bag and revealed a set of shiny keys with several bling-bling style attachments. "Here, Emmett. It's on the third floor, around to the left of the elevator doors."

She dropped the keys into his outstretched hand, and gave him an intentionally cheesy smile as he and Rosalie stood up.

"Thanks again, guys," I said thickly through a mouthful of food and drink.

"No problem." Emmett started gathering up the bags sitting beside me while Rosalie aimed for the ones surrounding Alice.

I saw my handbag about to be taken out to the car, but leapt forward and yanked it from the pile before Emmett picked up another wad of straps and linked them over his arms. It took a few minutes, but Emmett and Rosalie finally departed, promising to be back in about ten minutes. I felt strangely exposed without a million bags surrounding me, but wasn't willing to recreate the scene any time soon.

"So, what next?" I asked once Emmett and Rosalie had returned Alice's keys. They had gone off to enjoy the rest of their day, promising to give a review on the movie they were seeing. Alice and I headed for the escalators to take us up a level, holding onto the handrail as gravity was defied.

"I was thinking of this one place, I think you would like it. It's quite new, but very classy. The designer is from Australia." She started looking over the heads of the annoyingly slow Saturday shoppers, and then made a beeline for a shop with lights surrounding the doorway when she spotted it. "Here," she said, pushing me into the shop, which only held one or two women who were scanning leisurely through the racks of clothes around the store. I noticed as I had passed through the doors that it was called _Alannah Hill_.

The store was decorated in a manner which reminded me of the images I'd seen of old Victorian homes. There was intricate wood work everywhere, silk and other fine materials seemed to be in all places at once, the lighting was soft and inviting, and the whole place screamed '_class'_. There was a long stretch couch dividing the room into two sides, the left holding the sales counter and shoe area, and the right holding racks of clothing, all accessible to the average-human height, which was useful. I saw the two sales girls talking to each other behind the counter, and they smiled at me as I entered. Alice stayed a step behind me, ensuring I wasn't going to make a break for it. Both sales girls were dressed in a classical manner, making full use of their store-member discounts to dress themselves completely in _Alannah Hill_ clothing.

And I was completely shocked to find that I _loved_ it. All the materials were lovely and thin and flowing but sewn in layers to make up for their thickness. I walked along the wall of the shop, dragging my hand along the delicate items, and saw something that caught my eye near the glittering display at the end of the row.

"Wow," I said, pulling it off the rack.

It was a dark purple dress, simple in its cut. It was floor-length, and sewn in panels. There was a magnificent jewel on the back from which strands of material draped and linked back to the main frame of the dress. I held it up to my body and swayed to the side, much to Alice's hand-clapping pleasure. She seized my hand and dragged me to the dressing rooms, which were really three or four spacious boxes with plum curtains as cover.

I walked into one and simply stared at the dress for a minute before Alice clucked her tongue impatiently.

"Move it, Bella, or I'm coming in there!" she warned, and it was enough to make me start undressing myself. A minute later I smoothed down my hair and tried to tug the zipper up. It was stuck.

"Alice," I said through the curtain.

"Yes?"

"Come zip me up," I said, and she was at my side in a flash.

She didn't look at my whole reflection until the zipper was securely done up along my side, but when she did she didn't say anything. She just stared. I was shocked.

"What?" I asked, very worried. Alice was never lost for words. "Alice?!" I said, turning to face her for real instead of speaking to her reflection in the mirror.

"Wow," she said, clearly awed by something.

"Yeah, the dress _is_ something, isn't it?" I said, admiring the material. I turned to the side and patted down my stomach, trying to make it flatter though the dress did a good job of that on its own.

"Shoes," Alice said suddenly, grabbing my hand.

"Wha-" I started to ask as I was unceremoniously yanked through the plum curtain over to the wall of shoes behind the counter, which was set a little further out from the wall than conventional shops.

Alice scanned the wall of shoes, but seemingly couldn't decide. One of the sales girls came over.

"Can I help you at all?" she asked politely. I saw her eyeing my dress and I blushed ever so slightly.

"Yes, please, is there a pair of shoes that go with this dress?" Alice piped up, still staring at the boundless wall of shoes.

"Yes, there they are," the girl said, stepping forward to a pair of peep-toe black pumps. They had small jewels lining the peep which matched the one on the back of the dress.

Alice looked at them in the girl's hand, then tilted her head up as she held her hands out for one of the shoes. She caressed it in her hand like it was a child – _weird, I know_ – and held it against my dress. I blushed further at the attention being paid to me.

"Do you have them in size thirty-eights?" Alice said, looking back to the salesgirl.

"Yes, I'm quite sure we do. I'll be right back," she said, and took she shoe with her as she headed out the back of the store.

I hadn't noticed when I'd first emerged from the change room, but there were people staring at me and now I could see them. Both the women-shoppers in the store were looking at me, and several strangers had paused outside the wide doors of the shop to openly stare. I blushed and crossed to the back of the long room, trying to be subtle as I hid behind the glittering display of what I could now see was jewellery.

"Bella, sit down," Alice said in my ear, and I nearly jumped. The sales girl was back and was kneeling down by the edge of the long couch, holding one of the pretty black shoes in her hand as she waited for me to sit.

I delicately held the dress up as I tried very hard not to rip it. I tried to sit up straight to avoid crinkling the material, but this unfortunately gave me a full view of the new bunch of people who had stopped at random points in the hall outside the shop to stare. I felt very self-conscious and forced myself to not look there again.

"There," the shop assistant said. "How do they feel?"

I stood up carefully, unaided by Alice or the shopgirl, which in itself was a massive achievement. I took a short walk to the dressing rooms and back again. I might have been wearing socks and sliding around on wooden floor boards for all I could feel of the impossibly comfortable shoes.

"Wow," I said, twisting my foot around to examine them further.

Nothing was digging in, nothing was too tight or poking into me, they felt just right. This day was going too well!

"I love them. They're perfect," I said, unable to tear my eyes from the black satin heels.

"Okay." Alice said to me. She turned to the shop assistant, who perked up to help immediately. "Any jewellery?"

I noticed the other shop girl filing her nails over Alice's shoulder, and it strangely added to the classiness of the place. This was a shop you could lose yourself in and not have to worry about such petty things as time, or money, _or relationships hanging by a measly thread…_

The shop assistant came back with a simple silver chain in her hand and a silver heart pendant dangling from the end of it. I bundled my hair up as Alice unclipped it and re-clipped it around my neck.

"Earrings?" she prompted the girl, who returned a moment later with plain dangling threads of silver in her hands.

"You can't try these on, sorry," she said apologetically. They were stud-style earrings, but I'd not have expected to have been able to try on the hook-style either. Alice nodded beside me, but took them to hold them up to my ears.

"We'll take the lot," Alice announced, handing the earrings back to the shop assistant.

I nearly fell over. I had seen the price tag on the dress while getting changed, and had assumed this shop was just for fun, not for actual _buying_.

"Alice!" I hissed once the girl had retreated behind the counter and was starting to rack up the price on the shoe box and earrings. Alice spun me around and unclipped the necklace, dropping it on the counter as we passed to get back to the dressing room.

"Alice!" I tried again. "This dress alone is into the _four digit price range_. I can't afford this!" She pulled down the zipper without a word, then waited on the other side of the curtain as I tried to change quickly without ripping anything.

"I know Bella."

"So what are you doing?!" I shot back, feeling faintly hysterical.

"_I'm_ paying. Not you." She said it so simply, like she was telling me the time. I tore the curtain across to look her full in the face.

I was prepared to yell at her, but some unreadable part of her expression stopped me dead in my tracks. She wanted me to have something beautiful, and I wasn't appreciating it in the least.

"I…Alice…" I stuttered; trying to think of a nice way to tell her this was a big no-no.

"Don't even try, Bella, if you don't let me buy it now I'll just come back tomorrow and buy the same stuff when you're not here to argue."

I knew that was true. "Thankyou," I said sincerely, pulling her in for a hug.

"That's okay." She looked at me. "Would you button up your shirt? People are staring," she said with a giggle. I blushed furiously and did up the remaining two buttons on my top.

"Better?"

"Much."

Somehow Alice had done some of her genius work and convinced the dimmer of the two sales girls that there was a stitching error on the dress, so the price was docked down a few hundred to a three-figure sum. It was still unreasonable, but at least it was better than before. The shoes were flawlessly perfect, and she said afterwards that shoes should never be made to feel like they're worth less than they really are so she didn't try and trick the shop girls into a discount. I just stared at her when she said this. The jewellery came into the same category as the shoes, and Alice was happy to pay for it all together, despite my best efforts to let me pay for half.

The last thing we had to do, now that I had the comfortable weight of two _Alannah Hill_ bags over my arm, was to get a mask for me. Alice said she had seen something perfect in the same store where she'd gotten her own, so I let her lead the way, not realising that the store was actually all the way on the other side of the exhaustingly large mall.

We finally got to it, however, and I didn't have enough time to read the name of the store before Alice pulled me straight to a glass cabinet of half-face masks. One in particular caught my eye; it was black like my new shoes and had thin elastic all the way round it so I wouldn't have to hold it up at all. That was the first advantage I saw. Second was the fact that Alice beckoned over a shop assistant, and pointed to that exact mask, asking for a price. The sales _guy_ pointed to it to make sure he knew which one she meant before leaning low and whispering in her ear.

"That one is the last left. It's on sale, unadvertised, twenty dollars."

I heard this and immediately whipped out a twenty, brandishing it at the man. "Sold," I said triumphantly as Alice squealed with delight.

And it wasn't long before Alice and I were heading back along the dimming parking lot floor to her shining yellow Porsche, which I could see from the elevators was choccas with all the bags Alice had managed to accumulate during the day. I'd only bought a pair of black track pants, which Alice had snickered at, but I loved.

We got into the car, and I dug around quickly to find my solitary bag in the mess of Alice's before buckling my seat belt and turning to the front, Alice revving the car into gear.

"I hope Charlie didn't wait up for you," she commented, seeing the clock.

"Huh?" I said, thinking that the 8:45 on the clock wasn't that bad of a time to be getting home. "He knows its late-night shopping."

"Okay, whatever you say."

--

"Bella, wake up! We're here." Alice shook my shoulder as I unwillingly wrenched myself from the dreaming world. I had been having a very nice dream involving a long purple dress and a handsome stranger dancing with me while the rest of the masquerade party looked on in awe…

"I think Charlie _did_ wait up for you," she said seriously, looking past me to the light coming faintly through the kitchen window.

"Damn," I muttered, seeing the time on the dash, which had crept forward more than two hours. "How slow did you drive?" I joked, unsurprised that she had gotten us home in such good time.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Move it girly, I'm getting tired." She hadn't turned off the motor and I sighed as I reached for my seat belt buckle.

"See you Monday," I yawned as I grabbed all three of my bags and forced myself to get out of the car.

"Bye, Bella," she said before driving away.

I crossed the lawn to the front door, which was mercifully being lit by the still-on porch light. Poor Charlie. He must have been tired beyond belief by this hour.

I carefully opened the door, which was open, and locked it behind me before trying to be quiet as I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it onto the only available peg. I balked as I saw an unfamiliar jacket there on the usually vacant end peg, and looked more closely, realising with a sick feeling in my stomach that Charlie was not the reason the kitchen light was still on.

I put my bags down by the kitchen doorway, and felt my heart break at the sight in front of me.

Mike was sitting at the table with his head on his arms and fast asleep. In front of him sat a beautifully made dinner, one plate remaining piled high while Mike's own had been pushed away from him, empty. In the middle sat two candles in holders which were now covered with wax from the length of time they had been fruitlessly burning.

I walked forward and spotted a shining silver-wrapped box sitting just beside my empty wine glass. It had a card attached to it. I reached carefully forward and picked it up, noticing it was very light. I opened the card and read,

Bella,

I told you I would make up for that terrible dinner with our parents! And I know that I'll never be as good of a cook as you are…but I hope this does the trick, though I know now that you are more special than anything else in my life. I hope you like this gift; I think it matches you perfectly, but it's not as beautiful as you are.

Happy six-month anniversary. I hope you didn't get me anything, because just having you in my life is more than enough.

I love you,

Mike xoxo

I felt a tear escape my eye, and sniffed as I smiled at his words. I carefully opened the lid of the box and gasped at what lay inside. It was beautiful, more beautiful than it had looked in the shop window six months ago on my first date with Mike.

"Oh, isn't that pretty?" I had exclaimed through the glass of the closed store.

"It's okay," he had said in a disinterested voice. "But it's more like something someone else would buy for you, not something you would buy for yourself."

I had shrugged, knowing no one would be generous enough to buy me a watch like that unless their pockets were seriously endless – and their name wasn't Alice Brandon. "I guess. But it's still beautiful."

I stared at the watch now, and couldn't help myself from bringing it out of the box. I draped it across my wrist and watched it glimmer in the candlelight. I put the box down, but managed to knock it off the table in the same motion.

Mike stirred and lifted his head. He smiled at me. "You like it?" he asked quietly, in a groggy voice.

"I love it."

"Good, good. I was hoping your tastes hadn't changed in the six months I was holding onto it for you."

"Mike," I started, but found I couldn't say what I wanted to say. That I loved him. My throat felt blocked by the resistance to tears.

"Its okay, Bella," he said, rising from his chair. "Sorry about the mess," he said, waving a hand at the table of half-eaten food behind him.

"I… Mike, I'm _so_ sorry," I said, reaching forward to hug him tightly. He gently kissed my forehead .

"It's okay. I should go; my parents might be starting to worry. I'll see you Monday," he said, and just like that, he let go of me and walked out the room. I registered the sound of his coat rustling as he removed it from the rack, and the sound of the door quietly clicking shut behind him.

I sat down in the chair that had been meant for me and held my face in my hands, the watch swinging from between my fingers. _Idiot, idiot, idiot,_ I chanted at myself. How could I forget? _Idiot._ I looked up and saw a small moth flying across the room from the sink. I watched it, somewhat mindlessly, as it headed for the bright speck of light and flew straight into the candle's flame, instantly being ignited in the heat.

I spluttered, horrified, and blew out both candles before rushing through the doorway. I grabbed my bags on the way to my room, hoping like anything that that moth hadn't met a fate which was destined to align with my own.

* * *

**Well!! It seems Bella was the horrid one this time... not Mike... but I bet ya'll still hate him, right?**

**This chapter's questions is thus: I've been getting really bored since school is finished, spending my time looking around youtube and stuff - anyway, the point is: What is your favourite song?**

**I seriously need something to do.**

**Hope everyone is well!! And... review!**

**-Shaps**


	15. China Doll

**Woo! As usual, you guys are seriously my hero's - I mean, 247 reviews? !! - my reaction in an inaudible form :-)**

**The shop Bella got her dress from was called Alannah Hill - an Aussie designer of the wickedest clothes ever. Expensive, yes, but fabulous too! I pretty much described the store in Melbourne as the one in Seattle. (By the way - I have no idea how long it takes to get from Forks to Seattle, I'm flying blind in that area.) Alannah Hill's site is: .au/ if you want to have a look. I highly recommend it.**

**Anyway, here are the reviewers:**

**All.The.RageR, Child-Of-God13, CrazZy-BunNy, Silas1, booknerd14, Lianna Weschester, joellen818 (x2), Ghosts in the Snow, laibballfan, jennifier potter, Muff-Nbutter, mrsjacobblack91, dollegirl, tthrai01, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, FrEvrNvrLasts, mari alice, okiegirlforever, Music ADD, x-aly-x (x2), yaaaay, Intoxicated By His Presence, BellaAtHeartt (x2), Princess-Tinkerbelle (x2), jacob is the new black, bedwardforever, PerfectlyChaotic, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, to lazy to log in, twilightaddict26,** **ForeverWasteAway, pierce.me.through.with.sadness.**

**Child-Of-God13: Good guesses, but Mike's parents don't have any more input on Bella and Mike's relationship. As for the rest... this chapter will answer most of your queries.**

**CraZy-BunNy: We'll be seeing Edward in this chapter :-D**

**joellen818: Yep, Bella's first class is Trig in the Twilight books, but for the sake of having things fit a little better I changed around some of Bella's classes in this story. Good observational skills though!**

**laibballfan: I really really wish I had a photo to go with the dress I envisioned for Bella... but I don't... unfortunately it was all in my head. But at least this way, you can all picture your slightly different variations of what she'll be wearing!! No restrictions on imagination!**

**jennifier potter: Don't worry!! You'll like this chapter, I promise!! cringes away from blunt object**

**mrsjacobblack91: Awww, it's so great that I can change your mind with my writing like that! I'll try and make up your mind a little better during the rest of the story... though by the end I'm sure you'll have made a good decision all on your own!**

**dollegirl: Thanks for the pat on the back about the moth/flame thing. I saw it happen once, totally freaked me out - but somehow and in some weird way, it was actually beautiful. I hope you know what I mean! I'm not morbid, not at all.**

**mari alice: Very observant, and I agree totally with the whole 'being comfortable with your bf/gf and that's why you stay with them' thing. It happened to me once, but I am SOOO better off on the single side of the fence!**

**x-aly-x: Yep, there will surely be JasperxAlice action. But atm it's one of the background focuses, though I think you'd be able to pick up on minute advances in their 'relationship' of sorts if you looked for them in the story. But you knew that already! **

**BellaAtHeartt: Awwww.. thankyou! It's good to hear people like my story in as many words, no matter who says it :-D and I would LOVE to give you and AlwaysBettingOnAlice feedback for your story. It shall be wickedly awesome! I'll check on it once this chapter has been updated :-)**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: As always, your reviews are fabulously interesting and crazy to read! Me and my friends were sitting around the computer tonight saying how we all agree that you'd totally mesh well with us. So, if ever you're in the Barossa Valley in Aus, come and visit!! Lol. England is fabulous - my sister's living there atm. I'm sure you'll love being able to gloat when you're out of school and we're all locked in stuffy classrooms getting an _education_ bleh.**

**jacob is the new black: I still LOVE your username. I wish I was that creative!!**

**bedwardforever: Hahahaha, I agree, Mike does seem to be a horny little beast in lots of other fanfics! At least Stephenie Meyer is nice to him, lol.**

**PerfectlyChaotic: Hahaha, that's the first suggestion of Mike being arrested that I've received. Good work lol. Thanks for the compliments btw!**

**Kevin the Cornbread Slice: I miss getting your reviews! I wish you'd review more often, I love reading them. And just for you - Edward will get to have a crack at Mike. Literally. But you'll have to wait a little while for the sweet moment to arrive.**

**ForeverWasteAway: YESSSS!! I was waiting for someone to make a comment about the aversion to butterflies thing - it's VERY important. Do not forget it! I didn't know there was an Isabella Moth - how strange, eh? **

**pierce.me.through.with.sadness: I LOVE the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus! Great, great band. Love 'em. I'm from near Adelaide, in a town so small I don't think it even comes up on Google any more lol. Sydney eh, I have family there. Wonderful shopping city! I liked Feeling Sorry For Celia too; and I didn't like Finding Cassie Crazy in the beginning but I kinda warmed to it. But I love it now. The characters remind me of me and my friends!**

**--**

**Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read the story. Here we go!**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: China Doll**

* * *

I didn't know what to do with myself. After I'd woken up on Sunday morning, avoiding the lingering thoughts of a dream involving a humungous clock ticking beautifully over my head while I was attacked by small winged creatures, I decided it would be the best idea to avoid the kitchen and head over to Angela's.

When I got there, however, there was no one home. I wondered where to go while I sat in my truck, and after a minute I was inspired. Soon I was standing in front of Alice's door with my hand raised to the doorbell.

"Hey, Bella!"

I tried not to let my facial expression betray my shock.

"Hey, Leah, what are you doing here?" I knew I had sounded rude, so I smiled immediately to show I hadn't meant it to come out that way. Leah just grinned happily as I stood on the porch.

"Visiting Alice. She has a wicked house, don't you think? I've gotten lost so many times already!"

Alice _did_ have a wicked house. It was huge, obviously, and to emphasise the point of this I would have to use the comparison of being able to fit my living area comfortably in Alice's own _personal_ bathroom.

"Yeah, it is a little confusing sometimes."

Alice appeared then, holding a bowl in her hands and sporting some dusted flour in her hair. She has an apron on and was going barefoot. Once I'd cared to notice, Leah was dressed in a similar fashion; her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows and her hair carelessly thrown into a bun at the nape of her neck.

"Bella!" Alice exclaimed, blowing a loose piece of hair out of her eyes.

I decided that the exercise must have been Leah's idea. Alice not only did not know how to cook, but she was currently stirring the bowl in such an off-balance manner that I could see the full contents of it – and it appeared to be pure flour that she was mixing.

"Hey Alice," I replied neatly, swaying on the spot. "I just came around for a chat."

"So Charlie didn't ground you for getting home so late last night?"

I shook my head, both in answer to her and to try and discourage the memories clawing their way up my mind.

"You can help, if you like?" Leah offered, turning to Alice with a nod, who nodded back.

I knew that a kitchen which was not my own would be a health hazard to all involved, so I shook my head. "No, thanks. I'll wait for a while, if that's alright… Alice?"

Alice nodded enthusiastically. "Sure thing. We shouldn't be too long."

Leah clapped me on the shoulder in a friendly manner before turning and heading back into the kitchen, Alice following close behind.

I didn't pay a lot of attention to the time, and apparently, neither had my body - because when I snapped out of the reverie I had been in I realised two things. One was that my buttocks was in a sleep worthy of a coma, and the other was that my eyes had practically dried out from staring at the television I hadn't realised was on. I was sure I'd just given the term 'day-dreaming' a whole new perspective.

I started rubbing at my eyes, probably giving myself the appearance of someone who had just finished a good cry, and heard the door-bell ding in some corner of my conscious mind.

I heard voices; Alice and Leah and someone else, then turned as a movement in the corner of my eye required.

There, in the doorway and looking unfairly delicious, was Edward.

_I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend._

"Hey, Bella! I didn't expect to see you here," he said in a friendly manner, crossing the expensive carpet to sit beside me on Alice's couch.

He was wearing a casual t-shirt and a pair of jeans with a belt, but I couldn't peel my eyes from his face for long enough to notice anything more than that. I did notice that he looked very good with dark colours, however. His hair was done in a similar manner to last Saturday, and I was annoyed with myself for noticing this stupid detail about him.

I smiled then leaned forward to catch the remote control and turn the volume down. The show I had been watching wasn't even in English.

"I didn't think I'd run into you here, either," I said, trying to sound casual and to hide the faint hysteria building in the back of my throat. "What are you doing here?"

_I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend._

"Picking up Leah," he said, turning slightly so he was facing me. I knew I wasn't going to make an easy escape to the kitchen. "How are you?"

I remembered that my eyes looked puffy and swollen from having them dry open then be forcefully rubbed into a watery state.

"I'm fine, just spacing out as usual. I think I might have actually beaten a goldfish at a staring competition."

"There are no goldfish in here…?"

"Inside joke. Never mind."

I tried not to smile but couldn't hide it at the memory.

"What?" he asked me, starting to smile himself at my obvious flashback.

I sighed, and looked at him, which proved to be a mistake. His green eyes were swimming, swirling, _may just cause me to swoon…_

"I had a goldfish when I was little. Alice bet me that I couldn't beat it at a staring competition, so I tried, and when it didn't blink after around ten minutes I tapped the tank to try and distract it – and knocked it clean off the cupboard. Needless to say I didn't own any other fish after that, nor did I try to stare down a creature that does not possess eyelids."

Edward laughed, and I smiled with him.

"Really?" he asked, still laughing happily.

"Yeah." I shrugged and pretended to be devastated, but Edward just pushed me in the shoulder and I rolled over on the couch, breaking into laughter like he was.

After a minute we had both settled down, and Edward turned to me again, thoughtful.

"What are you here to see Alice for?"

I shrugged, but he didn't buy it.

"C'mon, we're among friends here!" he joked, sweeping his arm to the invisible people sitting in the leather seats around us.

I rolled my eyes. "Uh huh."

I swayed within my thoughts for a moment and debated whether to tell Edward or not. _Perhaps a guy's perspective would help this? _I was quite sure I knew what Alice would say if and when I told her; practically the same thing I would tell her had she been the one to forget her six-month anniversary.

"Okay, well," I started, thinking about how to explain it right. "Mike and I decided to organise for our parents to have a formal dinner together, along with us too. To skip the boring parts, his mother basically insulted me and I stood up for myself. I thought Mike would stand by me but he took his parents side. He apologised for it later and promised to make it up to me, which is where we find our issue…

"I went shopping with Alice yesterday and she has this rule about not having your phone on you because it is a distraction from the shopping world – thought I just think it's because she wants me to have no method of escape during the day."

Edward laughed at that and I tried to be serious as I continued.

"So I got home pretty late, and I thought Charlie was waiting up for me so I went inside, all quiet and stuff. But I noticed a random coat hanging on the pegs, so I went into the kitchen, and there was Mike. He had made me dinner and had little candles on the table; he'd even gotten me a gift. I opened it while he was still asleep, and the little note on the inside said that he loved me, which was a first. Plus, the watch wasn't cheap and I'd only said something about liking it six months ago, on our first date.

"Then he woke up, and I tried to apologise but he seemed, well, weird. I don't know how to explain it. It was like he'd had enough or something. So I don't know what to do, because he told me he loved me and in the same night I totally screwed him over."

Edward seemed deep in thought, and didn't say a word for at least a full minute. I kept silent, not wanting to disturb his tense stillness. He raised his head eventually and looked at me with a mixture of expressions.

"It seems that the fates are against you, Bella, from what I've known of you! This is pretty big though, I would be freaking out if my girlfriend did that to me, especially on that particular milestone when I'd put my self on the line like that."

I felt a massive wave of guilt wash over me. So it _was_ as bad as I'd thought… I might as well plaster 'idiot' over my head for all the world to see.

"However," he went on, staring at the carpet by my feet. "It isn't unrepairable. But it won't be easy, and it won't be quick."

I nodded at him, knowing this already, but still hoping in the back of my mind that he would say something that would fix it all in an instant.

"The only real question now it, do you _want_ to stay with him?" He looked at me with more intensity than anything I'd seen before and found myself caught in his gaze. My throat tried to work, tried to push out some kind of sentence, but though my lips moved nothing came out.

"We're done!" sang a pixie's voice from the kitchen.

Alice came dancing in, swinging a chocolate-smothered cake in her arms as Leah rushed in after her. Leah kept step behind Alice, a shocked look replacing her usually cool-as-a-cucumber act, holding out her own arms in readiness to catch the cake in case Alice thought it could fly.

"Wicked," Edward said abruptly, standing from beside me. I noticed once he had moved that there wasn't really space to breath between my own face and his while he had been sitting down, and felt a huge stab of regret for not noticing this before. "Time to go?" he asked Leah, a little happier at the prospect of leaving than I wanted him to be.

"Yeah, okay. Alice, put the damn cake back in the kitchen and try to sit still for a minute."

Leah warily stepped back from Alice, who disappeared in the kitchen then reappeared less than five seconds later. I heard the sound of the fridge door sealing shut behind her.

"I'll help you get your stuff," Edward said shortly, making to follow Leah out into the hall.

"But I haven't got anything to-" Leah started, but she was yanked from the room by Edward before any more words were out.

Alice sat down beside me, crossed her legs, folded her hands and breathed a sigh.

"So," she said, looking at me expectantly. "What's the big news?"

I spent the next ten minutes telling her detail-by-detail what had happened when I'd walked through the front door last night. She nodded in the right places but made no movement or noise throughout the talk.

"So what's going on between you two now?" she said when I'd finished. She looked concerned, but I could see the cogs of her mind fast at work, trying to think of a way to fix it. I hoped.

"I really don't know. I feel like I've more than half lost him, and everything just seems to be going wrong. I didn't even get him a present, Alice! And I'm the _girl_! I'm meant to be rushing around making my wedding plans before he's even proposed, and there I go, missing the six-month anniversary! What kind of girlfriend am I, anyway? Mike deserves better than this."

"Yes, he does, but so do you." Alice sighed again. "Look, Bella, Mike and you had an obvious connection in the beginning, not to say you don't have one now. But maybe your relationship has reached the stage where it's time to let it go while you can still be friends. Do you still want to be with him?"

"I don't know, that's the problem! He said he _loves_ me, Alice!"

"Okay, okay. I'll make it easy." She cleared her throat and it was obvious that her mind was working in top gear. "When you see him, does it make you instantly happy? Do you feel giddy when he says your name, or when you say his? Do you miss him when he's not there, do you feel like you would happily be a human bridge for him if he needed it?"

I stared at the shining wooden coffee table, thinking. The last time I had felt that way about Mike was… well… to try and fit everything to Alice's exact words…never. I couldn't remember feeling happy just to be around him, or to know I was going to see him. It was more of an, 'I'll see Mike today' rather than an, 'I can't wait to see Mike today'. Maybe she was right? Alice was usually right. Especially about things that required an epiphany.

I was careful with the word, like it might physically break something if said the wrong way.

"No."

"Then you have your answer," Alice said, nodding once.

There was a bustling on the stairs and Leah and Edward appeared. Leah had her hand-bag over her shoulder and Edward carried nothing, making my eyes tighten suspiciously. They both looked back innocently. Too innocently. I was sure they'd heard Alice and me.

"We've gotta go, thanks Alice, see you later!" Leah said in a rush, seizing Edward's sleeve and yanking him out the door.

Edward raised his hand in goodbye to Alice and I, but had barely opened his mouth to voice it before he was gone and the door was clicking shut behind them.

"Must be something in the Port Angeles water," Alice said, shrugging. She stood quickly and was gone from the room before I could answer, so I just shrugged.

I chose to stay in the lounge as I paced, Alice calling to me from the kitchen a moment later.

"So when are you going to do it?"

"Huh?" I called back, pausing in my pattern across the carpet.

"See Mike," she clarified. I heard the fridge door snap closed and thought she must have been getting into the cake, so I headed slowly for the kitchen.

I rounded the door to the kitchen. "I don't know. When should I?"

"Soon. The longer you leave it, the worse you'll feel." She twisted around on the bar stool and held up a spoon for me so we could share the piece of dark chocolate cake she had at her disposal.

I sat down beside her and cut off a small piece. "Tonight?"

She nodded. "Tonight."

--

It was nice to not have to deal with Charlie before leaving for Mike's house. Charlie was working late – more like, Charlie was staying down the station to finish a round of cards he and his badged buddies were playing. I didn't mind. Charlie deserved to have a break now and then.

So now, after devouring half a chocolate cake with Alice and discussing the best way to deal with Mike, I was driving more slowly than required in the direction of Mike Newton's home.

The tyres ground into the gravel of Mike's driveway as I turned off the bitumen. Mike's house was on a slight rise to the entrance gates, so I had to crouch slightly to see the building above me. Behind it I could see that there were clouds brewing, and knew I was going to have to drive home in the rain. Not like that was very unusual, though.

I wasn't surprised to see a curtain flutter when I got closer to the house. The sound of my truck was hard to miss and easy to recognise. I wondered whether it was Mike, his mother, his father or his housekeeper. By the way Mike appeared at the door, I was sure it had been him.

I stepped out onto the gravel, trying to not move it with my weight but still hearing the crushing noise under my feet as I crossed the small distance to the steps leading up to his porch. Mike smiled at me, and stepped forward, closing the door behind him. I felt a horrid sense of dread in the pit of my stomach, but tried to ignore it as I plastered a fake smile on my face and hugged Mike.

We pulled away, and I wasn't sure whether I was glad that his hug had been as half-hearted as my own or not.

"Come in," he said, stepping to my side and putting his arm awkwardly around my waist as we stepped forward. He opened the door and let me through first. It was much warmer inside; I hadn't realised through my minor panic that it had been almost arctic outside.

"Its lovely inside," I commented more formally than I had intended. Mike simply smiled at me.

He stepped over to the foot of the white stairs in the entrance hall and beckoned me over. I obliged. "I'll be up in a sec," he said, sweeping a kiss across my cheek, then disappearing through the door leading off to the kitchen and entertainment areas. I stopped myself from following him like I wanted to, and plodded my feet unhappily up the stairs.

I had expected the sight of Mike to make me feel a little happier, but it didn't. I wanted the butterflies to knock around inside my stomach, but they didn't. I wanted him to speak my name, or to say his, but the words were lost in the uncomfortable silence we shared. I'd dreaded the arrival rather than revelling in it, meaning I had not been upset to be away from him. The knowledge that I did not love Mike hurt me more than the knowledge that this was the end.

I pushed the door to his room open, and found that it was a little messy, just like the last time I had seen it. His bed was unmade, the covers thrown in a triangle like he would have done when crawling out of bed. There were shirts lying over his computer on the desk, pants lying scattered around the floor. Random assorted school books lay around various points on the carpet. I skipped over the obstacles and was fortunate to trip close enough to the bed so if anyone had been looking, it'd have looked like an intentional leap.

"Thirsty?" Mike's voice came from the doorway. I suspected he _had_ seen me trip. I looked at his hands, where two glasses of water were being supported. I guessed it didn't matter if I wasn't thirsty or not.

"Yeah, parched."

Mike smiled at my choice of words in a way which was close to the smile I missed, but it wasn't all quite there. It made me a little sadder to know this.

"So, what's up?" he said, but his face betrayed the realisation that was in his mind.

"It's about us," I said, not wanting to drag it out. I stumbled for the right words. There wasn't a lot of experience I could call on for this; to be truthful, Mike was the first boyfriend I'd ever had to break up with.

"Yeah," he said warily.

I swallowed largely.

"I don't know what's happened between us, but I don't feel the same way about you that I used to. Things just keep going wrong for us, and I feel like there's no point in trying to fix them anymore. You've made the last six months of my life the best of my life, but I think that's all they can be now. Do you know what I mean, Mike?"

He was looking down at the visible patch of doona between our seated bodies. Slowly, he looked up at me. I felt the urge to say something more, but bit my tongue and held it in.

"You're breaking up with me?" There was far more hurt in his voice than I had expected. He might have known it was coming, but that didn't make it any easier for him. He still wanted me exactly the way I didn't want him.

"Yes." I had to whisper. For some silly reason, I believed whispering would make it hurt him less.

He was silent. I looked up from the floor, realising tears had pooled in my eyes. I looked at Mike's face and they spilled over, silently tracing moist lines down my cheeks.

When I was small, my mother gave me the most beautiful china doll. I would sit in our home, on the soft carpet of our living room, and just stroke the beautiful porcelain face for hours. Renee loved it because I was silent and she would always know where to find me.

One day, when I was naughty, Renee took the doll from me. I kicked and screamed the biggest tantrum of my life trying to stop her, but when she saw me doing this the doll escalated another shelf higher than it had been originally. Being a reasonably smart chid – or devious, I wasn't sure which - I decided to bide my time in getting the doll back.

Once Renee was busy enough with dinner or some chore of the like, I went to the high shelf and started to shake it with as much strength as my four-year old arms could muster. It only took a few seconds, but the doll finally came free of its high prison. I fell, not a long way, but long enough for its face to break into a million tiny pieces all over the floor.

I screamed up a storm. Renee came running in to find me with bleeding feet and pieces of china in my hands. The china had been broken in such a way that they were too small to be repaired but big enough to slice up my tiny feet when I tried to run across the wooden floor to retrieve my faceless doll.

The look in Mike's face now brought back that memory, because the delicate state of Mike's heart was now in pieces far smaller than that beautiful doll's face. His own face displayed the pain he was feeling, and my own heart felt winded from simply seeing him. I wanted to reach up and touch him, just to make sure he was still there, still alive, still real. But I didn't. My hands were frozen to my sides, my blood running ice cold in my veins.

So painful was the look on his face that I actually stood up and left the room without another word, afraid that Mike was going to cut me too deeply with his own pain.

The tears were still streaking down my face when I ran down the stairs, they were still dripping from my chin when threw the front door closed behind me, they were still clouding my vision when I pulled out of his driveway, and they had made me puffy and red eyed and I was hiccoughing when I walked in Charlie's front door.

Before I fell asleep on my bed at a time inappropriate for a Sunday, the image of Mike's face in my mind caused me to scream into my pillow in the vain hope that it would help me to dispel the intense aching in my heart.

* * *

**Okey dokey! I'm sorry if the end sounded a little emo, by the by. But now, you won't have to bug me about when Mike and Bella will split!! I'm sure there will be other, more compelling queries you shall come up with.**

**This chapter's question: Where did your username on this site originate from?**

**Mine came from this little story:**

**My name is Chanelle - so when the whole Schapelle Corby thing first came out everyone was like "haha, your name rhymes with 'Schapelle'" and from there it got shortened to Shaps. And it has stuck. Plus, I like it and it's unusual so I don't usually have to add numbers or anything on to the end of it for usernames!**

**By the way, I did my maths exam today. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be! But at least it's all over and done with now!**

**Hope everything is fabulous with you all, stay wicked,**

**-Shaps (.)**


	16. Smile

**And here we go again... another chapter!! 35 reviews for the last chapter, lol, thanks a million guys. You really are the reason I keep writing!! Geez, you guys nearly had a party when the MikexBella relationship became no more... but hey, whatever pleases the public!! Haha.**

**Just something random... OVER 10,000 HITS!! WOoooooOooOoOoooo!**

**In other business style news; I was having a look at everyone's profiles yesterday (i.e. YOUR profiles, the ones of my reviewers!) and anyway, I had a squizz of some of your stories. Now, there was one in particular that I really liked but it had like zilch reviews - so, because I truly believe it's a story worth reading and reviewing; if she doesn't get thirty reviews for it by the time I reach the 25th chapter of My Pen Pal, I won't post anything after that. And trust me - you don't want that to happen! Since the link is being a poo and won't work for me so just g****o to AlwaysBettingOnAlice's profile and follow the link there. There's only one story to choose from, so don't worry about clicking on the wrong link!! Go, REVIEW IT!**

**And the reviewers are: beggingtobitten, Child-Of-God13, Intoxicated By His Presence, jennifier potter, CraZy-BunNy, dollegirl, okiegirlforever, yaaaay, chrissyhale, jake.n.ash.edward, jacob is the new black, Erika, booknerd14, edwardsfavouriteflavour, Princess-Tinkerbelle, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, Muff'Nbutter, x-aly-x, FrEvrNvrLasts, bedwardforever, AlwaysAround888, Ghosts in the Snow, King of the broken hearted, laibballfan, flossiemae (x2), twilightaddict26, Bellefire253 (x2), GinnyBrown is here and now, Music ADD, featherwing, 143twilighter (x2), abercrombiegrl15, mari alice, Erika Baby, EC4me, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, Sing-my-heart-out.**

**Special Mentions:**

**jennifier potter: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I was actually laughing my head off when I read your review! Seriously, my dad came in and was like "Die quietly!" (Lame parent joke, I think). To all the other readers reading this: I recommend reading the last review from jennifier potter!**

**CrazZy-BunNy: Yep, Edward definitely likes Bella!**

**dollegirl: Hahaha, I love debating with people, especially when you know that they're _so wrong_ and you're _so right!!_ Go ahead and do your Snoopy dance, I can wait! ... The drama awaiting us next will be grand! In fact, there's another letter from Edward in this chapter. Jacob will come back into it soon enough :-) And awww, thankyou for saying I have talent! You're so sweet!**

**chrissyhale: Sorry about missing your review! Sometimes I have to skip the shorter ones - especially when I was posting the last one cos it was like ten minutes to write review responses and post the chapter and stuff before I had to leave for my maths exam. Gosh am I glad that's over though! I hope the party will be as good as you're expecting!**

**jake.n.ash.n.edward: Hahahahaha, loved the review, very clever! I will be including an Epov in a little while, but not for a few chapters. I want it to be a surprise! I think you all will enjoy the little insight into that boy's mind.**

**booknerd14: Thanks for your suggestion. I'll try and integrate a little bit of your idea into the actual get-together - but you'll have to wait and see!! Hehe. I'm so evil.**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: You hate art?? Noo! I lurve art! But I love photography more - that doesn't mean I'm any good at it though lol. Your whole review was just great, loved it, you're hired! Lol. Hope you like the following chapter!**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: So, did you see the reviews I left for your story? It really is a great story! I hope you post another chapter soon, otherwise you know what'll happen! And I'm pretty sure the reviewers of this story won't be very happy if you don't meet my demands!**

**Muff'Nbutter: Sorry, sorry, my Aussie ways seem to be confusing people! I think in Twilight SM called it 'black top' - bitumen basically means the road surface. Sorry again, I didn't think it wouldn't make any sense! (Or maybe I spelt it wrong...?) Thanks for the claps on my maths exam, too!! I appreciate it!**

**x-aly-x: Yes, Edward and Leah did overhear Alice and Bella talking - but Edward's going to pretend he didn't for the sake of courtesy.**

**AlwaysAround888: Lol, I love emo moments too! They're great for getting it all out, eh!**

**Ghosts in the Snow: I thought that was a pretty good line too!! I kept on saying it the day I wrote it and no one understood it; sigh; there's no way to explain that you're making an inside joke when there's no one else to back you up!! I love that the MCR song your username is from has 'vampires' in the title, lol.**

**King of the broken hearted: Yay! You logged in! I'm very proud -beams- I hope I'll see another review from you...?**

**flossiemae: Ohh!! AWESOME! I wish my pov school ('pov' means something along the lines of 'bogan' I think - it might be Aussie language again) anyway, I wish my pov school would do something awesome like that!! Edward and Bella will definitely get together, but it won't be a big 'bang' kind of relationship. It must develop over time :-) Alice and Jasper will get together too, but same circumstances as ExB.**

**twilightaddict26: Yes, Mike is a bit of a moody cow, eh! Worse than Edward in the Twilights - though his mood swings are captivating. Mike's are just irritating.**

**Bellefire253: Don't panic, Edward will be at the party!! Lol. Loved your second review! Made me crack up. Okay, the relationships between Bella/Jacob and Alice/Jasper are:  
Bella and Jacob's will be explained in the story as time goes on through flashbacks and things like that. As you'd be able to tell already, they were once very good friends but the status quo came between them. People change - there's not a lot you can do to stop it.  
Alice and Jasper despise each other only because Jasper has always been a nasty pasty to little Alice. But, I think you all would have figured out that there is something more than pure hate between them, I mean; isn't hate the first sign of love?**

**featherwing: Thanks for adding my story to your C2! I was very excited to see in the stats that the number of communities had changed!! And cheers for the review too :-)**

**Music ADD: Yep, he will. Edward's next letter appears in this chapter!**

**143twilighter: I made up the dress, but if I find a picture I'll definitely post a link! Very good observation about the moth - keep an eye out for copycat attacks. Mike and Bella _might_ remain friends. **

**abercrombiegrl15: Aww, thankyou so much for saying this is the best story you've read!**

**ErikaBaby: if the stars in your username don't come up, I'm sorry, but sometimes they just wont appear in story formats. Anyway. Thanks for your review! I'm thinking this story will be approx 30 chapters, and I update almost every day. Hope you will keep reviewing!**

**Kevin the Cornbread Slice: Lol, loved the review! And I was glad I made Kevin happy with the crushing of Mike Newton. I'll try and make Mike a big depressed mess, too, so I hope you enjoy seeing him suffer in the latter chapters.**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: Smile**

* * *

Amazingly, I had avoided even seeing Mike through first and second lessons. It was now morning break, and everyone at the table was being deathly silent. Mike wasn't there.

Alice had guessed what had happened when she saw me this morning in English. She didn't even have to say anything, the hug she gave me was worth more than she knew. Angela had also kept mainly quiet, knowing I needed my space like only Angela could. Emmett was just a hum of laughs and jokes in the background; a hum because almost all of my effort was being used to try and stop that broken image of Mike from entering my mind.

"…Mike is?" someone asked. I instantly regretted hearing it. His name had not caused butterflies in my stomach before, yet it caused an awful squeezing of my heart now. I ignored the voice – it sounded like Emmett – and tried to build up the mental walls again.

"Must be sick," someone replied. Alice, I thought. The walls fell down again, and though I would have usually tried to rebuild them I let them down. I mentally prepared myself for the well-deserved guilt onslaught the innocent conversations of my friends were going to cause now.

"Yeah, he didn't look so well," Tyler answered Alice's assumption across the table. I caught on fairly quickly. Mike wasn't avoiding me inside the school grounds with successful outcomes – he had skipped the charade and wasn't at school at all. For a reason obvious to me, I felt more guilt about this. **(a/n: he's missing school because of her.)**

There was silence at the table again. Rosalie tore a roll of bread in half and proceeded to rip smaller, bite-sized pieces away. I exhaled heavily, much to Ally's shock, who was beside me.

She tried to hide her fright at the noise and turned to me with a smile. I could see her mind working to find a distraction for a moment before speaking.

"Feel like picking up your letter, Bella?" She was very careful with her words, like I was recovering from a very serious illness or near-fatal accident. I avoided the urge to sigh again and simply nodded at her, not trusting my voice to be volume-consistent.

"See you in history, Bella," Rosalie said to me as I stood from the table. _Wow. Rosalie is being unusually serious at the moment. I must look really terrible for that kind of sympathy._

I just nodded as I turned away with Ally in the direction of the offices.

It seemed my appearance had a sobering effect on the whole student body – there was a gap in the crowd as Ally and I left the cafeteria. I chose to keep my eyes down and prayed that no one would offer their whispered apologies of 'I'm sorry' to me. The little luck I had left held together and we exited the bustling room in silence, uninterrupted by the gawking faces.

My thoughts were lost as we crossed the pavement to the shining front office doors. I realised too late that Ally had been speaking to me, and tried better to tune in as she pushed open the door, allowing a waft of warmer air to wash over us both. The heat woke me slightly and it wasn't quite so hard to stay focused.

"…wicked designer. Wants to open her own store, you know. I'd definitely buy things from her, she sent me a few shots of the stuff she's made so far and I loved them! The dresses, I mean, my goodness, they look like she bought them from a retailer!"

Ally was uncharacteristically rambling on about something I didn't really understand. Since we were getting our letters, I guessed she was talking about her pen-pal. Kim, I remembered suddenly. _She's writing to Kim. I found that out on Saturday, when I was talking to the Port Angeles kids._ An image of Edward floated to my mind … my heart sped up stupidly at the memory of his lovely face. I kicked myself internally, but it wouldn't leave the eyes of my mind so I stamped on my own foot and (embarrassingly) ended up on the floor.

"Bella!" Mrs Cope's nasal voice asked in concern. Ally gently pulled me up and set me on my reasonably steady feet. "Are you alright?" The secretary fussed, and I realised her voice only sounded nasal because her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. _Excellent. Another round of the flu is on its way._

"Fine," I mumbled, knowing that a wordless response would not pacify the woman. Ally brushed off my arm as I straightened my jacket.

"We're here to pick up our letters, Mrs Cope," Ally said kindly to the woman, who had revealed a small bowl of chocolates from behind the desk and was holding it out to me.

I picked one up politely, then Ally took one too as the bowl was waved in her face. I mumbled my thanks but was drowned out by Mrs Cope, who answered Ally at the same moment.

"Yes, yes, we just got them no more than half an hour ago. You two certainly know when to turn up here!" She chuckled at her own wit and turned to get the letters from another room. A moment later she returned and Ally and I gratefully took our letters from her.

The walk back was as uneventful as the one before. The only difference was that the rain had started to fall, and like it does in Forks, there were no visible objects to be tripped over until I had tripped over them. Mercifully, Ally guided me through the mist and we found ourselves under shelter just as the bell for third period class sounded.

"Thanks," I said, finding my voice was not as croaky as I'd have thought.

Ally knew that I wasn't just referring to her saving me from meeting with the ground. "Any time," she said sincerely. She hugged me tightly, and I did my best to hug her back just as firmly before we set off again.

Alice was waiting for me when I walked into the warm history room. Beside her, Rosalie smiled kindly at me and I was too surprised to be able to pull the correct answering expression quickly enough. Rosalie turned back to her work, but I didn't think she looked offended at me, so I sat down on Alice's vacant side. I didn't see where Ally went, but she usually sat somewhere else in History anyway.

"Got it?" Alice asked, and I knew she was referring to the letter.

I felt too tired to vocalise another response, so I just nodded. I pulled out my books and slapped them down on the desk, then found the right page and tried to concentrate on the Nazi regime while the rest of the class laughed and talked around me.

Rosalie seemed to be on the same page as me, but just as I leaned over Alice to see if she had stared taking notes again Rosalie closed the book and leant her elbows on the hard cover. She sighed. I could tell from the expression on her strangely flawless face that she had troubles of her own, but since I didn't really enjoy being quizzed when I was upset I left her alone to her own thoughts.

Alice, despite having me practically lean into her face to see Rose's work, was chattering happily to someone on the other side of the room. It was Tyler. He was sitting with Ally two rows up, his arm draped comfortably around her shoulders. Ally had also twisted around in her seat, and every few seconds she would give Tyler a glance that I hadn't seen before. I realised too quickly that it was the type of look I had _thought_ I would have given Mike, but Mike and I had never had a relationship like that, with a honeymoon stage and all. For me, at least, it was more of a convenience than anything.

_No! _I couldn't exactly clamp my hands over my ears to stop the thought occurring, but as soon as it had reached my conscious mind I instantly regretted it. What a horrid thing to say. I shouldn't even be thinking about _him_, it made my heart ache with guilt at the consideration that I'd never really even _liked_ Mike at all. I had never deserved him.

I looked back down at my book and picked a random spot on a paragraph, trying to distract my mind.

I got down to the part about _Hitler Youth_ when the teacher cleared his throat, and started jabbing a pointer at spots on the map at the front of the class. He was, obviously, pointing out places in and around Germany. The glare at the front of the room hurt my eyes so I looked back down at the book.

Something around me, I realised, was missing. I looked up and scanned the room, but realised only when I looked at Alice that she wasn't secretively passing notes to someone across the room, but she was staring down at her text book in a way I suspected was similar to my own. Alice was such a quick reader that I knew she would have finished it when we were first "asked" to "look through" the chapter on Friday, so I leaned over slightly to see if she was re-reading it or something else.

I was right; she wasn't reading the paragraphs about the worst of the Germans. There were a few loose sheets of paper sitting atop the open text book, and each page had neat blue writing on it. Alice's letter from Leah. I wondered vaguely when she had collected it, but wasn't very concerned with that once my eyes accidentally caught onto a sentence penned on the paper.

_'We went to the movies Saturday night, but Edward was being a sook and wouldn't tell me why…'_

I ripped my eyes away, not wanting Alice to catch me reading over her shoulder … but I couldn't kelp but wander what Edward had been upset about.

The rest of the day passed by in a fashion which could only be described as _slow_. I felt so tired that everything had started to meld into a dream-like state, and I got Alice to pick up a sugary drink for me during lunch because I was incapable of doing it myself. The soda, at least, held me up through Calculus that afternoon, but was starting to run out when I pulled into Charlie's driveway.

My bag felt it necessary to spill its contents as I tried to drag it from the car, and both my patience and knowledge of swear-words were tested as I angrily shoved everything back in. The zipper almost coughed everything out again, so I sat on it to make it close, hoping that the mobile phone I rarely used wasn't going to end up damaged from the onslaught. I slung it over my back and scanned the floor for anything important that'd evaded me, but all I saw was a shiny something poking out from under the passenger side. Too tired to care, I left it behind and headed on up to the house.

I shut the front door behind me, and checked the coat pegs for Charlie's presence. He wasn't home yet; I hadn't expected any different. I dragged my feet up the stairs and headed to my room, dropping my bag at the foot of my bed and dropping down on the mattress with a soft _flump_.

I lay down on the covers for a few minutes, deliberately allowing my mind to be blank. But after a while; I didn't know how long; I started to feel a little cold and so I rolled onto my back, thinking of going downstairs and digging up an old hot water bottle.

As I raised myself from the flat-on-back position in a style that would have made a vampire proud, I saw my lumpy and annoyingly bulging school bag sitting on the carpet. Mentally cursing Mr Varner for giving us homework after two hours with him – _hadn't that been enough work?_ – I pulled my bag toward me and leaned back to drag it onto the bed.

It was difficult to get the zipper open, but it had been harder to get it closed. Once the brown canvas revealed my work, I sighed and reached for the easiest subject I had homework for – History. The folder came out easily enough, but I hadn't expected the white square of paper that fell out with it. I picked it up and realised that it was a letter. And it was from Edward.

Possibly much too eager than was considered normal, I ripped it open and read it with more energy than I had collectively used all day.

--

**_Dear Bella,_**

**_How are you? Not much has been going on around here – so I hope you've got something more interesting to tell me than I have to you!_**

**_Last Sunday night after I picked Leah up from Alice's we all went to the cinema down the road from Sam's place. There was Leah, Sam, Paul, Jared, Kim and me there. The funniest thing happened while we were there! We chose to go see I Am Legend with Will Smith. I'm pretty sure you know what movie that is. Anyway, Sam was arguing to the death with Leah and Paul (who were uniting nicely over the issue) because he wanted to go see some blood-and-guts thing. We all just thought he was being stubborn and dopey as usual, wanting to see some innocent people getting hacked up or something, but apparently that wasn't the case. When we got into the cinema, he kept trying to sneak out for food, or drinks, or toilet uses or something lame like that. Eventually Leah got fed up with his whining and went out with him to the toilets. The reason why none of us will let him alone outside a cinema is another story all together – remind me to tell you one day. Anyway, so Leah made sure he didn't sneak off, because he took aaaaages in the bathroom. When they got back he was nearly falling off his seat for some reason. Then, when it got to the scary parts he shrieked! Seriously, he screamed like a scared little girl! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen, or heard. At first everyone thought it was Leah or Kim, because they were the ones blocking him into his chair from either side, but when I leaned over Paul's knees to look at the girls they were both shaking with laughter and Sam was staring at the screen with this totally horrified look on his face. It was wicked! I wish you could've been there to see it! You probably would have ended up with a cracked rib from laughing so much, but gee it would have been worth it!_**

**_Yeah, well, that's my big news of the moment. Now to answer your very important questions …._**

**_Um, no, I didn't dare nor expect Alice to run that race in heels. I have to admit though, I was impressed! If she can do that three inches off the ground, she must be quick with flats on! And you're right, if I had dared her to do it I certainly wouldn't own up to it because you would kick me in the butt! But maybe I would have, because I'd be able to just hold you above my head so your feet would be nowhere near my backside? Haha!!_**

**_As for the sleep talking – yes, you did say some things. But it was mostly words I couldn't understand anyway, I think you said at some point 'not the candle' or something along those lines. It was over a week ago, Bella! It's too hard to think that far back. Oh, and you also said my name, but I think you must have said it while you were waking up because it was much clearer than anything else. So, nothing too embarrassing!_**

**_So tell me, how is Mike? I can't remember if I asked you how long the two of you were going out for, so I'll ask again; how long have you and Mike been going for? It must be nice to have a boyfriend. It's nice to be dating someone, isn't it? I think you've inspired me to get back into the dating game, Miss Swan!_**

**_Anyway, I'd better go, I have some French homework that's calling my name. I'd like to meet up again with you, though, if you're interested? Our groups could go see a movie or something together if you'd like. I think Emmett and Paul made pretty good friends at the Athletics Day. Emmett certainly knows how to give long-lasting bruises – Paul showed us. It was sick._**

**_Maybe you could call me sometime? Or, if Mi- your Dad doesn't like that idea then you could give me your number and I can call you if you like?_**

**_Hoping to speak to you soon,_**

**_Edward Masen_**

**_P.S. My clothes always smell like boys. I can't seem to get rid of it. I wonder why? Any tips?_**

**_--_**

I smiled for what felt like the first time in years. My eyes crinkled and I laughed very softly to myself. Edward was so silly sometimes. I looked down at the bottom of the piece of paper and saw that he _had_ given me his home phone number. It wasn't long enough for a mobile number.

I folded the letter up and kept my hand in the same pocket while I went downstairs and dug around to find a hot water bottle. After ducking a broom handle from the overly-crowded closet in the hall, I found one sitting atop an old dusty cardboard box. It was green. The filling of the bottle woudn't take very long, but the croaky old kettle took its sweet time in heating up. I waited patiently in the kitchen, foot tapping and hands repeatedly pulling out Edward's letter so I could stare at the number on it.

_Why shouldn't I call him? He gave me his number. He obviously wants me to call him. Unless it's a test, and he's trying to find out whether I'm a stalker or not. Yeah, that's probably it. Well, I'm not going to fall for it. He can just learn I'm not a stalker the hard way – the one which involves him sitting by the phone for hours and hours without a single ring to listen to._

_Ugh. That is the stupidest theory I've ever thought of. Honestly, who makes 'stalker tests'? Maybe he just feels sorry for me. Maybe he got dared to do it. Maybe he's going to try and hack into my mind and get my bank account details so he can rob me blind then bugger off to a secret location in Bali or something. Maybe Leah's doing the same to Alice. Maybe the world is made of millions of microscopic hamburgers. Maybe I should go swimming in the kettle. Maybe I'm losing my mind._

The kettle switch clicked then, and I nearly fell to the floor with fright. I took a few calming breaths and righted myself, ensuring that my feet were steady before carefully pouring the hot liquid into the rubbery water bottle. The task was done without any burns, so I screwed the lid on and headed back to my room.

It was easier to think with the bottle warming my toes, and after an hour and a half I put down my Calculus and felt glad that the homework – for tonight at least – was done. I pulled Edward's letter from my pocket again.

_Maybe I_ should _call him. Why else would he have given me his number? He ever offered to call me if I wasn't allowed phone courtesies. That's definitely a good sign, isn't it? Of course it is. Yes. I will call him._

I pushed my school bag away from me and swung my legs from the bed, grabbing the hot water bottle from the floor when I realised I'd dropped it. I carried it with me on the way down the stairs, warming my fingers. The letter in my pocket felt like it was on fire, because my heightened awareness of its presence was a burning sensation in my overly-thinking head.

The chair made a hollow scraping noise across the tiles when I pulled it back. I sat, and it squeaked, making me jump again. My heart sped up – but it wasn't only from the ominous noises around me. I looked over Edward's handwriting again, feeling utterly stupid but very glad that no one else was in the room.

I picked up the phone, and punched in the first few numbers, my hands getting clammy. I cleared my throat and looked back down at the paper for the last three digits, but almost dropped the electrical item when I saw what was walking around my page.

There was a moth, small and gray, pacing over my paper. Its wings were quivering like it was cold, or frightened. I stared at it, frozen into place by the overwhelming fear that its life was about to end and my own was about to get much, much worse.

As I stared relentlessly at it, it paced over Edward's beautiful handwriting, leaving a very faint shimmer from its wings on the page. Its wings continued to quiver. Then, as it headed for the edge of the page, it stopped. The thing which shocked me more than its unexplained appearance was the fact that just as it stopped, from the phone line I heard 'beep, beep, beep's indicating that the phone had been idling for too long, and that the moth had chosen to stop its pacing right over the last three digits of Edward Masen's phone number.

I gasped, but controlled myself well enough to hang up the phone, put it down, and blow the moth from my letter before yanking it from the table and racing into my room, praying that the little bugger didn't know how to get through key-holes or open doors.

* * *

**Now, before you all ask if I'm insane and have a thing against butterflies and moths and stuff; no, I don't. But the moth aversion is important. Remember it!**

**Don't forget to review AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story - otherwise I won't post past chapter 25. You've got a fair while to do it - and 30 reviews isn't that much. Go, go! Fly my pretties, fly!!**

**Love you all, and review!**

**-Shaps**


	17. Stranded

**Woo!! So many reviews, so many reviewers... Lol. Oh, and thanks so much to those who went and found AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story and reviewed it! To find it, just read the reviews for this story and scroll along 'till you see her username, click on it and yeah, you all know what to do after that!**

**And the AWESOME reviews are:**

**Lianna Weschester, Ghosts in the Snow, Intoxicated By His Presence, LookAfterMyHeart, Bethany Knight, beggingtobebitten, chrissyhale, okiegirlforever, laibballfan, jennifier potter, GinnyBrown is here and now, AlwaysAround888, edwardluva234, Muff'Nbutter, edwardsfavouriteflavour, Child-Of-God13, booknerd14, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, King of the broken hearted, twilightaddict26, Music ADD, Princess-Tinkerbelle, yaaaay, KiRaTwinkles, Michelle62092, x-aly-x, FrEvrNvrLasts, Bellefire253, sunybee, books and bojangles, ErikaBaby (x2), vampiressuck (x2), mrsjacobblack91, sprinter1, Rommy (x2), xx Phyre xx, Grillllz, 143twilighter.**

**Special Mentions:**

**Lianna Weschester: Drama is my middle name! I love it. But I hope it's not too over-the-top? I'm currently slogging through another fanfiction atm, having to read it only two or three chapters at a time so I can get my head around everything. Let me know if I'm over-complicating things, though. A 'sook' is when someone's acting like a baby - sorry, I didn't even think about whether non-Aussies would know what I was jabbering on about!**

**Kevin the Cornbread Slice: Sorry about the confusingness - I'll try and make sure things work out clearer in the rest of the story!**

**LookAfterMyHeart: I like your username! Lol. Canada is an awesome country, you guys have the best flag. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Bethany Knight: Lol, sorry about the moth hatred, but I promise it'll all make sense in the end! You'll find out what the silver thing under the seat was in this chapter :-)**

**beggingtobebitten: Haha, I was debating whether to actually leave that author's note in there or not - but I wasn't sure that everyone was going to be having a 'with-it' day so I decided to leave it there, just in case. Good observation though!**

**chrissyhale: I'm totally hoping I live up to everyone's expectations with this party... a little nervous actually, I'm totally going to stress when the time comes for my final read-over before posting! Thanks for the review!**

**jennifier potter: A little scary of a review - but still good. Lol. I'll skirt around the petting area of the local zoo for the rest of my life now!!**

**GinnyBrown is here and now: Don't stress!! There will be plenty of Edward/Bella 'action' soon enough :-)**

**AlwaysAround888: That's right, she was afraid of the moth so she didn't call Edward. I know it sounds a little lame, but, the last two times fairly major social catastrophes occured in her life, there was a moth present. Wouldn't you be a little freaked, too? Especially concerning Edward - who she totally has a crush on. I wouldn't call him if a moth turned up either; I'd be scared of messing things up with Edward.**

**booknerd14: LOL, no, I don't hate Mariah Carey. I'd kinda forgotten her personal fetish with butterflies and stuff. I assure you Mariah Carey won't somehow impose on the whole My Pen Pal world. Lol.**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: My pleasure! I know how disappointing it is to be writing a story and have barely any reviews. Most of the time it's because people just haven't seen your story though - so I thought I may as well give you a foot-up! And with the Alice/Jasper thing, I thought it would be nice to make them enemies instead of like immediate life mates or whatever. Edward was sooking because of what he witnessed on Athletics Day - wouldn't you be upset if your crush told you they were actually taken?**

**twilightaddict26: I've done the 'dial 90 percent of the numbers then hang up' thing too!! It's soooo nerve racking. Crazy stuff. Ooohhh! You noticed that Sam sneaks off ;-) keep an eye on that situation!!**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: Hitler Youth in history for you too? Wow. Must be like a world-wide 'lets learn about the Nazi's!' thing going on atm! Haha, you make up your own curses, that's gold! Aww, thanks for the compliments on the story -goes all gushy- I hope your art project went well though!!**

**yaaaay: Haha, loved your makeshift swears and exclamations! I lurve seeing people get all crazy killer when there's a mosquito or fly or something irritating them - so I'd love to see you taking out a few whip-slaps on a moth that invades your personal space! As for the Edward getting back into the dating game thing... we shall have to wait and see. Lol.**

**KiRaTwinkles: I'd like to think I have a good sense of humour, but some people just inform me I'm insane instead... lol... oh well. It happens. This story isn't symbolic as such, but, the appearance of moths seems to represent impending problems for Bella. Or so she thinks. But keep reading, please?**

**x-aly-x: Haha, you're not the only one who seems to be pitying Mike Newton, so, don't stress. I guess I'm just too good -examines nails mindlessly- lol JOKING, joking!! I didn't know whether to actually finish this story or not in the beginning- it was my friend Ally who bullied me into it! And since your name is very close to hers, go ahead and feel free to take some credit!**

**FrEvrNvrLasts: Nope, she wasn't waking when she said Edward's name. **

**Bellefire253: Hell yes! He definintely has a crush on her, lol. Otherwise, it just wouldn't be a real fanfic, would it? I tried to fly when I was little too, once. It was after watching Mary Poppins for the first time. I was convinced I could jump off of the garden wall in my back yard with an umbrella and float around the world. Lol. Damn, I wish I was still that ignorant, life was so simple once...**

**books and bojangles: Love your penname! It's so random, but trippy. Wonderful stuff. You passed up a lake trip to read my story? Whoa. My ego just increased two-fold! Lol. Now it's the size of TWO peas!! Ooooh, Coldplay... if their music could be eaten then I'd be on a Coldplay diet for the rest of forever! When I go to the US in a few years, I'll be sure to try out your Bojangles Restaurant!**

**Erika Baby: No problem! Sometimes I'm too lazy to log in too, plus, it's good to know that people have found my story by some form of randomness and still reviewed! (Sorry if that made no sense lol)**

**vampiressuck: Lol, thanks, I think I let a tear slip when I was writing the break-up scene. It was sad :'-(**

**mrsjacobblack: Edward and Bella will happen, don't worry!! She is most certainly him aim of the dating game.**

**sprinter1: I'm not quite sure what 'chill' means, sorry, I'm so out of the loop! But if you mean when they'll get together, then it will be soon. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Rommy: Rom, I know you love creepy things. I actually had you in mind when I came across the moth idea! And candles.. yumm... so romantic! Haha. Oh, Alannah Hill! Break me off a piece of that! As for AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story, I'll bet you've probably found it by the instructions at the top of this Author's Note so I won't worry about repeating myself.**

**xx Phyre xx: Yep, E/B will meet at the masquerade ball for sure! And they'll recognise each other too. Man, why doesn't anyone my age throw masquerade balls? Sigh. If only I lived in high society!**

**Grillllz: Aww, thankyou for the sweet words! I like this Edward too, and I agree with you on the My Verson/Stephenie's Version of Edward. A guy like this is more appealing in some ways than Edward-Edward, but Edward Cullen will always be the dreamiest... -sigh-**

**143twilighter: Lol, sorry, I hate having to think unnecessarily as well. Like I mentioned above, the appearance of moths seems to represent impending problems for Bella. Or so she thinks. -Cue 'dum dum dum' music- lol, so dramatic! Thanks for the uplifting review!**

**--**

**Kk, my Author's Notes are getting sooooooooo long these days. But I wouldn't have it any other way. And, as always, you can just as easily skip over them! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you like French Toast your perspective as to what it can do to you is about to alter. Read on!**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Stranded**

* * *

I remembered getting up, I remembered getting to school, and I remembered my lessons in vague forms. I remembered getting home and cooking Charlie dinner, and heading up to my room to do my homework. I remembered these things, but it was like ticking a list of requirements rather than having lived a whole day of life.

To put it simply; my Tuesday passed in a blur.

So now I was sitting on my bed again, reading Edward's insanely lovely handwriting just because I liked the way it looked and the way the paper smelt.

I picked up a blank page; one of the loose ones that came with my History folder. I then scrambled forward for a pen before settling back against the wall at the head of my bed, bringing my knees up as a makeshift table. It was time to write a reply.

--

_Dear Edward,_

_I haven't seen I Am Legend – but I've heard it's pretty scary. I don't fare very well with scary movies; they tend to give me nightmares. I know everyone else grew out of the 'nightmare' stage, but not me! I guess that just proves how unique – or weird – I really am. Oh well. You can be the judge._

_So, I might as well tell you about what's currently going on in my life at the moment. Mike and I split up. It wasn't very pretty, and I'd usually say 'I don't want to talk about it', but right now I'm in one of those moods where I say absolutely everything that's on my mind._

_I know that I've told you this already, but I might as well refresh your memory. It'll be easier for me to explain it if I write the whole story anyway._

_Mike told me he loved me on our sixth month anniversary, which was this Saturday just passed. I came home from a day of phone-less shopping with Alice to find Mike surrounded by the remnants of a romantic dinner which he had prepared for us as a surprise. He even got me a beautiful gift; a watch which I'd fallen in love with when I first saw it on my first date with Mike six months ago. I was stunned that he'd remembered it, or that he'd spent so much time keeping it for me. A minute after I got all emotional and girly, Mike woke up. He told me it was okay, and that he didn't mind. But then he left, and I was left to see a moth kill itself by flying into a candle flame._

_That's been happening a lot lately, actually. While I was having a shower a while ago, a moth died by drowning in the drain right in front of me. It was quite horrible. Then, just before, a moth stopped me from doing something I wanted to do because it covered the writing. I don't think wildlife likes me very much._

_Anyway, after that disastrous non-dinner it was really awkward between Mike and I. So on Sunday, after talking to you and Alice about it, I went to see Mike. He wasn't very willing to speak to me, because he knew what was coming. I didn't love him. I never have, and I didn't want to drag it out any longer because that would just hurt Mike more. Even thought I don't love him the way he loves me, I still love him enough to care about his feelings. Painful story cut short – we broke up. I was really upset. Yesterday at school I might as well have not been there; and today was even worse. Mike didn't come to school and I feel extra guilty for being the reason his education is going to take a hit. Now things suck heaps because I don't know what to do with myself._

_I want to love Mike. I want to make him happy and see him smile and feel his happiness make me happy too. I want to be able to hug him and feel my heart speed up. I want him to be the one for me, because it would make him happy and I would have found the right person for me. But he's not, and I'm not. I don't understand this life. If we're not meant to be with a person, why does it last so long? Six months is a fairly long time, really. Why didn't we- no, why didn't_ I_ see it? Why couldn't it have ended earlier so the both of us wouldn't have been so hurt and confused and left in this horrible post-break up part of life? I don't want to have to spend the rest of my life feeling my heart break over, and over, and over again. I don't think there's anyone out there for me. Why would there be? And what's the chance of meeting them anyway? There are millions and millions of people in the world. There is very little chance that I'll happen to stumble onto the right person for me by means of some stupid coincidence, Edward. That just doesn't happen. That stuff is for fairytales and ignorant, self-centred idiots. I'm neither. There is no true love; there is only convenience and chance. As for the people who found their perfect matches, how long did they have to look? Really? And if they stopped looking once they thought they'd found their "soul-mate", how do they know there isn't something better out there? Well. They don't, do they._

_And that's what life is, really. Always trying to get one-up on one another. Trying to get a better grade, or more goals, or more drunk, or a flashier car or job or house or spouse or funeral. No one deserves to be truly happy unless they can return that happiness to the other person._

_Does that mean I was meant for Mike, but I just messed it up? That we messed it up? Geez, Edward, a relationship can go so wrong in such a stupid moment of bad judgement. Things change in the blink of an eye. And it isn't time that is moving too fast, it's just me that can't keep up._

_I'm tired of trying to keep up. I'm tired of wanting to feel the happiness I see in romantic movies. I'm tired of pushing through every day and thinking that it's all going well, but then finding that it was all just some stupid trick of fate, laughing at me while I claw my way along the coals of life. I'm just so tired._

_Gosh. I'm so sorry, that was way out of line. But I think it was valid. I'd like to know what you think about it all. Anything. Everything. Just tell me what you think._

_Hoping that you still think I'm a little bit normal,_

_Bella Swan._

_P.S. Try getting Leah or Kim to wear your clothes for a day. You'll smell like a woman in no time!_

_--_

I set my pen down and re-read the words. _Wow, I can be really depressing sometimes._ But, despite the possibly scary nature of my sentences, I seized an envelope from the table beside me. I sealed it with Edward's name and pushed it into my bag, picking up Edward's reply to me and putting it on the dresser a moment later.

For some reason I sat still for a few long minutes, my mind scrambling through countless thoughts. I only caught glimpses of them, and this frustrated me. My head felt like it was about to split from the internal pressure.

Slowly, to make sure I didn't end up on the floor, I got up and headed downstairs to the kitchen, thinking of making French toast for an after-dinner snack. The television was on in the living room, as I could hear, and there were infrequent crunches coming through the doorway. I decided that Charlie must have stolen the crackers from the cupboard – the empty box was half-sticking out of the rubbish bin.

I rustled around in the bread box, but didn't find any bread other than the few rock-hard rolls that were hibernating in their plastic bag. Great. I took a quick look at the clock on the stove and decided I would make it to the Thriftway if I was quick enough.

"Charlie?" I called as I shoved one arm through my jacket. It was raining outside; I could tell not only from the sound on the roof but from the drizzle coating the windows around the house.

"Yeah?" he called back, and I heard a rustling as he tried to hide the crackers.

"I'm gonna quickly go down to the Thriftway and pick up some bread." I stepped around the corner so I could see him properly. He was still wearing his uniform, but his jacket was draped over the arm of the couch beside him and his gun belt had been removed already. "Do you want me to pick up some more crackers for you?"

He smiled sheepishly and revealed his hidden arm, showing me the bowl of chips he'd almost finished off. "Yes, thanks Bells." He smiled and reached into his pocket to reveal and ten dollar note. He handed it to me and I smiled as I shoved it into my jacket pocket.

"Thanks. Shouldn't be too long."

"See ya."

I turned back to the door, fishing around in the pocket of my jeans for my truck keys so I wouldn't have to stand in the rain outside to find them. Once the silvery pieces of metal were dangling from my hand, I twisted open the front door and made a careful dash to my truck, clambering in and shoving the keys into the ignition so the heaters would crank up as soon as possible.

It took a couple of tries, but eventually I was cruising down the highway. I didn't bother with the radio today. The combination of rain and the thundering of my truck would have drowned it out in any case anyway.

Just as my destination came into view, I looked at the clock and was pleased to see that I had ten minutes to find bread and crackers. Not many people were still there, most cars were pulling out rather than in, and so I found myself a lucky park not too far from the grocery giant's front doors.

I yanked the keys out and leaned over to smack down the passenger side lock before shoving open my own door and hitting the lock before throwing it closed again. I pushed my hands into my pockets, one curled around my money and the other around the cold metal keys.

The automatic doors were very welcome, because just as they closed behind me I heard the sheeting rain protest against the lack of admission to the inside of the well-heated store. Many of the lights around the place were beginning to flicker off, so I smiled apologetically at the remaining one checkout girl before striding in the direction of the breads and pastas section. I picked up two bags of Wonder Loaf and then headed down a little further until I saw the biscuits and crackers.

With the carbohydrate filled items tucked under my arms, I eyed the tall glass windows at the front of the store. The dotty old lady in front of me counted out her coins for the patiently waiting checkout chick. I kept my eyes on the rain outside, thinking of how slowly I was going to have to go along the highway to get back home, and how good hot French toast was going to taste after battling the outside conditions.

The gray-haired woman eventually stepped out the automatic doors, letting in a cold breeze which made the hairs on the back of my hair stand up. I stepped up to the mark and dropped my intended purchases onto the moving conveyor belt, bringing the ten dollar note out and slapping it down on the other side of the little computer monitor.

The girl – her name was Sarah, according to her name tag, scanned the items through, quickly putting them into a plastic bag for me. She smiled in a business-like manner as she said, "That comes to six-eighty, thankyou." And I handed her the money, and she handed me the change along with a receipt, and I put it in my pocket. I then took the plastic bag from her with a returning smile as she said, "Enjoy the rest of your day!"

I headed off toward the exit, and was glad to see that the rain had slightly settled down. It was still cold when I stepped through the moving doors, but I wasn't slapped in the face with water so I couldn't complain. My truck slowly came closer, and I skipped over the rapidly moving storm water drainage gutter as I pulled my keys from my pocket. The door opened easily, and the relative warmth and dryness it provided was greatly appreciated.

I swung the bag over onto the passenger seat. The keys jangled as I found the right one, and connected it with the ignition. I turned it, foot ready to give it a rev if necessary, but wasn't met with the usual rumbling growl of my motor. It coughed pathetically, wheezing its protest at being disturbed. I tried again. Same response.

Baffled, I looked around me to see what I had left on to cause the battery to go flat. I checked the lights, radio, indicators, and cabin light along with everything I could lay my hands on, but everything seemed to be fine. _Darn it. Okay, time to call Charlie for assistance._

I emptied all my pockets, expecting the shiny piece of technology to turn up. But it didn't. Feeling exceptionally frustrated, I slapped a hand to my head to try and think of where my phone had last been. _School bag, yesterday. Bedroom, now? No._ _I didn't see it when I'd been doing homework. Charger? No. I'd have tripped over the cord on my way out. Handbag? Ha! Unlikely. Friend's house? No, Alice would have given it to me today, and I hadn't been to Angela's in a fair while. Must be in my schoolbag. Argh._

A flash on my eyes disrupted my thoughts, and I watched, slightly panicked, as the last car in the parking lot pulled out and made its way along the highway. The worry started to set in, but I momentarily muffled it by spotting a phone booth. On the other side of the huge parking lot. _Excellent._

I sighed and zipped my jacket all the way to the top before pushing out of the cabin and bravely striding out in the open with my head down, checking every few seconds that I was still heading in the right direction. The rain held off, mercifully, and I got to the bright orange public phone without much trouble. Until I spotted the receiver on the cement by my feet, and the severed phone cord dangling limply from the body of the phone.

Back in the cabin, I prayed for some kind of weird miracle. I knew Charlie would eventually come and find me; he knew where I was and that I wouldn't have gone anywhere else without first telling him, but I didn't want to have to wait a further half an hour or possible forty five minutes for that to happen.

I was mentally calculating the chance of reaching Angela's house before freezing to death when a crack of thunder sounded overhead and scared the living daylights out of me. Then, something absolutely wonderful happened – despite the fact that the rhythmic beeping made me scream ear-piercingly loudly.

I looked down at the bluish light coming from under the passenger's chair, and felt my heart take a calming breath at the realisation of my phone's presence. Then I remembered, my second rate bag zipper had enticed me to leave the 'useless' mobile in the cab of the truck last night. I could have kissed that brown leather bag right now. **(A/N: Oh, I forgot about the 'cell phone' thing in America - that's what a mobile phone is.)**

I leaned down and snatched the cold metallic brick up from the floor, pressing the 'Read' button for the sms I'd just received. It was from Alice.

'Cnt believe u ddnt come 2nite! Ange&I hav seen tons of eye candy. Nxt time, no excuses. See u, Alice&Ange'

_Damn it._ Why had I had one of my stupid out-of-it days today?! I didn't even know where they were. Oh well. At least I knew she was going to reply if I asked her where Emmett was tonight.

_'Kk, sori, I'l come nxt time 4 sure. Wher r u? I need a ride. Flat battery, I thnk. Is Emmett busy?'_

I sent that, and waited only for a minute or so before the phone beeped again.

'Emmett's out with Rose 2nite. We r in Prt Angeles the football prac sesh. Hot! Ange says 'unluky'. I laugh! Xoxo'

I laughed to myself, knowing that Alice and Angela would be flaunting the heating of their cars to the cute football players and comparing observations of muscles for at least another hour. I suddenly thought of some other people who might be able to help me, but I didn't have either of their numbers.

_Yeh, thnks 4 that, I feel v. luvd! Do u hav the Cheney's num? I'l try them nxt._

Again, Alice was lightning fast with her reply.

'Yeh, but it wnt do u ne good. They'r both here, Ange is chekin out Ben's buns lol sori darling, by the time we get bak u'l b an ice block. Hope ur ok xoxo Alice&Ang'

I read it and exited my inbox, annoyed. I decided to call Charlie, thinking that he wouldn't let me down, not matter what game was on the TV.

It rang six times, seven times, eight times, nine times … and went to the answering machine. I hung up before the beep was heard, and tried again. And again. And again. _Darn it, Charlie! Get out of the shower or wake up or_ something_!_ It wouldn't have mattered if I'd left a message, because Charlie didn't know why there were sometimes numbers flashing on the answering machine – let alone how to operate the thing.

_Argh._

I scanned through my pathetically small list of contacts. Angela and Alice were too far away to help. Charlie was currently incapacitated. Ben and Tyler were wrestling with other guys in the rain. Emmett and Rosalie were out together somewhere.

I looked through my inbox again, and stopped when the highlighted line got to B. _Black. Jacob Black._ Well, we _used_ to be good friends, right? And he knew how to fix cars. I opened the contact box and moved the cursor down to his home phone number.

I really didn't want to resort to this, so I tried the truck again. More wheezing. _Ugh._

The phone barely rang once before a breathless voice was talking into my ear.

"Hello?" Jacob said, sounding like he'd almost fallen over trying to get to the receiver.

I swallowed, knowing that I was totally using him. And that this may not end up going very well.

"Jake?" I said, having to clear my voice before saying it.

Silence.

"Bella?" he said, disbelieving. I couldn't blame him. I heard a quiet chuckling in the background on Jake's end, then the sound of a door being loudly closed.

"I -, you -, what do -, um, can I help you with something?" he stuttered, clearly shocked.

"Well, to be honest, I need a favour." I knew that trying to woo him into helping me wouldn't be a clever idea; considering he was going to be alone with me if he _did_ agree to help, and I didn't want to confuse any intentions of the call. "I'm stranded and I need you to give me a lift home."

"Mhmm," he said thoughtfully into the phone, like I was saying something he already knew. "Where are you?"

"Thriftway in Forks. I think my battery is flat." I looked around me and felt a shiver when I noticed how dark it was getting, and how quickly. I pressed my hand down on the lock of my door and checked that the passenger side door was also secure.

Jake made a tongue-clicking noise. "Left your lights on?" he said, like I was a child who needed particularly easy words to understand.

"No, _actually_, I don't know what happened. Everything seems fine to me. But I'm no mechanic."

"Lucky for you, _I_ am." A pause. "Why didn't you call anyone else?"

"I _did_, but they're all busy tonight. Just my luck. And Charlie's not picking up either." I huffed, frustrated, and knowing that Jacob was going to rub this in for the remainder of my life.

"Okay, okay, I'll be there soon. If I can't fix it I'll give you a ride home." I heard a rustling in the background, like he was getting up. A door clicked and my thoughts were confirmed; he was actually going to help me.

"Thanks, Jake. See you soon."

"Bye, Bella."

I sat back in my seat, the phone light partially obscured by my hand. After about twenty minutes, a pair of headlights swung into the car park. As they got closer, I could see that it was Jake, in his red Volkswagen Rabbit. I smiled, remembering the fun we'd had in that car when we were kids; pretending to be race car drivers or travelling through outer space.

How times change.

I tried to start the truck again, just to make sure I wasn't going to be caught in one of those situations where the car started when Jake tried and then I looked like I was just trying to get him alone or something. But it didn't start. The little car parked in the spot beside my truck. Jake stepped out a moment later, and his height when he stood made me think that he couldn't possibly have fitted inside the car.

He smiled at me, but I couldn't see through the water-blurred glass if it was a sneer or a real smile. He jogged around to the other side of my truck and tried to open the door, but it was still locked. I hurriedly leant over and unlocked it for him. He jumped in and shook the moisture out of his hair, then turned and smiled at me. A real smile, not a Jasper-smile.

"Hey Jake, thanks for doing this for me."

"No problem," he said, "so what's the problem?"

"It won't start." I turned the key, and the groaning effort of the engine was heard, but it didn't kick into life, making me both frustrated and relieved at the same time.

"Okay. You're sure nothing's on?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay, pop the hood," he said, pushing open his door again. I reached down and pulled the little switch up for the hood. It popped open and Jake flipped it up, putting the metal bar up in the same movement. I couldn't see anything more then, and I didn't fancy joining him out there in the cold and rain, so I leaned back in my seat. Something dug into my hip, and I pulled my phone from my pocket. No messages. I decided to write one to Alice, just in case she – or Angela – was worried about me.

_'Hey guys, dnt worry. I got sum1 out 2 take a look at the engine. Shld b fine. Enjoy ur nite xo Bella'_

There was a small bang as Jake shut the hood again, then he jumped back into the truck and wrung his hands together to try and warm them.

"Try it now," he said, playing with the heater settings.

I turned the key in the ignition and was overjoyed to hear the truck roar to life. I revved it a little more than usual, just to hear the lovely noise after such a long while of silence punctured only by rain.

"You are my hero!" I called to him over the rumbling, a big smile on my face. "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!"

"No problem. Just let me thaw out before I head back to my car first, and you've got yourself a deal."

"Okay," I said, putting my own hands in the path of the slowly warming air. "What was wrong with it?"

"The battery clamp was loose, so I whipped out my spanner and took it off. There was some blue-green corrosion under there, so I got my pocket knife and cleaned it off, reattached the clamp to the battery and yeah, it was fixed." He seemed bored with the explanation, like he'd thought of exactly what to say while messing around under the bonnet. Either that; or he spoke car-talk like it was his second language.

"You lost me,' I said, laughing at my own clueless nature.

Jake laughed with me, and we both warmed our hands in silence.

We sat like that for a few minutes. I eventually found my hands burning from the heat, but Jake still seemed to need the heater, so I didn't say anything. I sat back and started kneading my hands together, glad that the truck beneath me was still idling happily.

"So," he said from beside me, still rubbing his hands together. "How are you?"

I wasn't sure whether his question was directed at my general well-being or not, but that was what I was thinking of when I answered him.

"I'm alright. How about you?"

"Pretty damn cold, but other than that I'm okay," he said, smiling cheekily at me.

"Thanks again for this, Jake," I said sincerely. "I think I'd have ended up an iceblock before anyone came looking for me!"

"No worries. But I'd have expected Newton to turn up before me!"

I know his words were innocent, but that didn't stop me from averting my gaze downwards and feeling the cold pain creep into my chest, the water from building in my eyes. I tried to take a deep breath but it sounded too ragged for me to disguise it as anything other than a sob.

"Bella?" Jake said, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

I tried for another breath, and did better at keeping it silent this time. "We broke up."

"Oh." He knew to keep silent until I said something else, a skill many guys lacked.

He knew I would either open up to him, or make it clear that I wanted to be alone. He expected the second option, I knew, but I what I didn't know was why I went with the first.

"I think he really hates me now." I said, feeling the tears slip down my cheeks. I wiped them away angrily, and sniffed to stop myself from breaking into an unstable emotional mess. "He's missed the last two days of school because of me. It was my fault! I totally messed everything up."

"Shh," Jake said, sliding across the seat and putting his arm around me in a pleasantly brother-like manner. "It takes two people to break up a relationship, Bella. You could have burnt down his house by accident and if he loved you enough, it wouldn't have mattered to him."

I knew Jake was right, and I wanted to tell him so, but my throat felt constricted by the stupid emotions burning my heart to cinders. I opted for just leaning into him and clutching his warm jumper so I wouldn't keel over. Jake stayed silent, one hand on my shoulder and the other gently rubbing my back. It made me feel considerably better to know that he was there, and for now, he was my Jacob Black.

Eventually I ran out of tears, and Jake let me go as I straightened up.

"Thanks," I croaked from a dry and sore throat.

"Any time," he said seriously, ducking slightly to see into my eyes better. His gaze flicked between my pupils, and I knew he was checking for any further possibilities of break downs. "Take a big breath," he suggested, and I did. It made me feel much better.

"Thanks," I said again.

"You'll be okay?" he asked, and I knew he didn't just mean would I be alright to get home on my own. He was really asking me if I was going to hold up, if I could work through the break up and separation and guilt and the painful conversations he knew I would go through all too soon.

I nodded my head. I _would_ be okay.

"I'd better get going," he said, looking down.

My small hands were encasing one of his huge, warm ones. It was a very nice temperature to heat my skin on. I let go and smiled apologetically. He didn't take the attachment the wrong way, and just patted my hands on my knee before he stepped out of the cabin. The rain had stopped, so he lingered for a moment before stepping around to his car.

"I'm sorry," he said, and though I would have thought he'd meant it as a gesture of regret on his part about mine and Mike's relationship, I picked up some other intention of the words. I opened my mouth to ask, but he was gone, the sound of the truck door vibrating in my head as though some door to life had just been slammed in my face.

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**And... Review!! Don't forget about AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story - she's got about 20 reviews so far. So, a few more and you all won't have to worry about not seeing this story's ending!!**

**Did anyone guess that the phone was what fell from Bella's bag? I did mention something about a phone;** _'...so I sat on it to make it close, hoping that the mobile phone I rarely used wasn't going to end up damaged from the onslaught...'_ **hehe. Claps to anyone who figured it out! And something else to also think about - you know how there was a 'pleasant looking older woman' in the front office in chapters 9 & 10? Think about who she could have been.**

**Love you all!**

**Oh, and this chapter's question: What is your favourite fanfiction story? (I'm looking for other stories to spend my time reading :-D)**

**-Shaps**


	18. Second Chances

**Heyyy!! You guys are seriously so, so awesome, my heart tries to jump out of my throat every time I'm reading your reviews! So happifying! Thanks a million for telling me your favourite stories too, I really appreciate it. Now I think I'll have something to do other than downloading songs from iTunes!**

**And the reviewers are:**

**ForeverWasteAway, tthrai01, edwardluva234, edwardsfavouriteflavour, twilightbell17, GinnyBrown is here and now, laibballfan, Child-Of-God13, FrEvrNvrLasts, LookAfterMyHeart, AlwaysAround888, Grillllz, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, x-aly-x, okiegirlforever, Music ADD, jake.n.ash.n.edward, HarvestEclipse31, Rommy (x2), twilightaddict26, musicormisery4105, chrissyhale, CrazZy-BunNy, Bethany Knight, mrsjacobblack91, xx Phyre xx, Ghosts in the Snow, 143twilighter, Screams-At-Midnight, BellaAtHeart, booknerd14, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, bedwardforever, Princess-Tinkerbelle, Bellefire253, books and bojangles, joellen818, cullenVSblack, Intoxicated By His Presence, vampiressuck.**

**Special Mentions:**

**The people who were right about who the mystery woman in the reception area was were: LookAfterMyHeart, twilightaddict26, Bethany Knight, xx Phyre xx, Screams-At-Midnight, joellen818.**

**ForeverWasteAway: Thanks so much for reviewing! I mean, just to make the effort to go and PM me 'cos your reviewing button isn't working... I feel very special just from such a gesture! And thankyou for complimenting my grammar/writing skills, I love to read gramatically correct fanfics so I work to make sure mine are easy to read before I post them. It's nice to hear that someone notices :-D and yeah, Jake is awesome!**

**tthrai01: You'll find out whether Jake's changing or not in this chapter :-)**

**twilightbell17: Aww, thankyou so much! It's great to hear your like my story :-D and to find AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story, have a look at the author's note at the beginning of the last chapter. Thanks for reviewing!**

**LookAfterMyHeart: Lol, thanks, the Aussie flag is awesome! So awesome, in fact, that New Zealand copied it and changed the white bits to red! Silly old Kiwis. But I love them and their accents and sheep all the same lol. **

**AlwaysAround888: The 'brotherly' part of Jake is the key!**

**Grillllz: Don't worry!! Bella doesn't think of Jake in 'that way' in this story. Strictly friends. I was sooooooo close to personally sending you this chapter when you asked me to update another, but I managed to control myself. Lol. But, here it is!**

**x-aly-x: Ha, Ally got very excited when you mentioned her in your review!! Funny kid that one, lol. 5.20am?! Wow. I admire your dedication!! And self-control to not slide off your chair in a sleep induced coma!**

**HarvestEclipse31: Yeah, I don't really like love triangles either! There isn't a love triangle in this, it's strictly EdwardxBella. Nooo way am I making Bella and Mike get back together - not only would my reviewers hack me to pieces, but I don't think I could handle having to write it myself! No more Mike. He's over. Me and my friends are always discussing our own personal Edwards... in fact, our code word for a gorgeously hot and flawless guy is 'Edward'; as in,  
"Hey! Have you seen Edward lately?"  
"You mean the blonde Edward who lives on three-o'clock street?"  
"Nah, the black haired one who lives just over my back fence."  
(Casually looks back over her shoulder.) "Oh, yeah, I saw him a few days ago. He's looking pretty damn yummy these days."  
"No doubt!"  
Hahah, I'm insane I know. But I love it; I'd hate to be ordinary! And I like your insight on the whole not settling for the hell of settling thing, very wise. I shall try and have a listen to that song on youtube once I've posted this! Thanks for the suggestion! And you're right about the whole moth thing, too.**

**CrazZy-BunNy: Jacob said "I'm sorry" because he knows that things can't be as effortless and comfortable between them all the time; it's one of those socially unacceptable things. And it's not that _I_ believe people ought to be separated by the status quo; it's how the characters would behave. I try my best to make sure that I'm not _controlling_ the characters; hence why I don't like trying to keep to Stephenie's versions too closely. It's fun to mess with them!**

**143twilighter: Nope, Bella didn't leave her number in the letter. Lol, I've heard of that 'Pen Pal' story too, I heard the chick who writes it lives inside a cave and spends all her time squinting at her laptop. Lol. Not that she actually has a laptop, because her parents think that one computer is enough for a household of people (fat chance).**

**BellaAtHeart: When Edward and Leah rushed off, they weren't talking, they were listening...  
I can't wait to Beta for you! It's going to be major-style exciting! Hahahahahaha, 'woman spray', hahaha. I love Lynx deodorant (mmm... manly).**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Lol, you've so much energy. It's crazy - and infectious! Yay for your story, though! I'll be checking the review count on it in a tick.**

**bedwardforever: You'll find out next chapter what Edward thinks of football players, he'll mention something in his letter.**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: French! The language of love! I will totally marry a guy who can speak fluent French. Hottttt. Tracing your art thing!! Hahaha, I wish I'd thought of that when I needed to finish an assignment I was supposed to hand up the following day. I'll keep that in mind now, hmm... I'm so sorry! I turned you into a murderer! Well, at least you had a funeral for it. I had a funeral for a baby mouse once. I was hell upset when it died. I made a little coffin out of paper and everything. Loved your story about The Lost Mother's Mobile Phone! Great stuff! I totally made Alice into a crazy txt genius. I can picture the real Alice Cullen sitting and texting at lightning speed under the table during class without looking. Don't stress, this is most definitely a BellaxEdward story. Thanks for your review, -hugs-!**

**books and bojangles: I fully agree! I don't want you guys (reviewers) to just be the random pen-names that I get compliments from, I would much rather know what kind of a person you are. Great fanfiction friendships can be forged through the wondrous world of reviewing!**

**--**

**As always, thanks for your fantastic reviews everyone! And don't forget to have a look at AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story. And I also recommend jacob is the new black's story - The Real Edward Cullen. I loved it! Look through my reviewer's usernames to find it.**

**Okay. Hope you like this chapter!**

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**Chapter Eighteen: Second Chances**

* * *

"Good morning Mrs Cope," I said as I held out my letter to her on Thursday morning.

She took the letter and smiled. She had lipstick on her teeth, but I didn't say anything. _Why is she even wearing lipstick? No one remotely attractive (who she would be interested in) ever appears around here._

"Hello, Miss Swan, how are you?" Her eyes darted to the door behind me and I got a small twinge of intuition. _Perhaps the principal isn't here yet …_

I tried to look normal as I answered; tried to keep the knowing tone from my voice. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"Good, good," she said absentmindedly, openly staring over my shoulder now. The door creaked opened and a short gust of wind hit my back before stopping abruptly as it swung shut again. "Good morning!" she almost shouted to the newcomer.

I didn't have to turn to know the owner of the voice. "Hello there, Helen, any messages?" Principal Cullen asked politely.

Mrs Cope nearly fell over with excitement at being addressed directly, and by first name. Knowing she was completely distracted, I turned and headed out the door, sneakily getting a glimpse at the doctor-come-principal's profile as I left. He really was unreasonably attractive, especially for a late thirty-something man.

I pushed my bag into my locker while I waited for someone to turn up and engage me in conversation. The metal box showed all signs of neglect; there was a slightly musty smell to it, pieces of old paper were scattered on one of the shelves, ribbons, old folders, a photo or two, some beads and pencils were scattered around the place. There was a thin layer of dust coating everything. I gave my swollen bag an extra shove, and was about to slam the locker door to avoid looking at the depressing items a moment longer, something caught my eye. The two photographs were both face-up, and would hold their own dustless patch if I were to move them. I couldn't properly see the occupants of the images, but that didn't concern me right now. What _did_ concern me, though, was the fact that there was a photo missing; there was a square of dustless-surface beside the other two pictures. Wondering where it was, I lifted up bits of paper, but didn't find it. The two photos still there made me curious as to know which was missing, so I picked them up and brushed them off, a smile creeping across my face at the memories.

One was of Alice, Angela, Emmett, Mike and I. It was taken last year on the final day of classes. I remembered that day quite well, and I knew that the memories of this photo would have to be wrestled from my mind when I was old and senile. We all looked pretty much the same other than the recent pairing changes. Angela was looking up and laughing at Alice, who was sitting up on Emmett's huge shoulders. Alice had her hands thrown in the air, and Emmett was laughing with his eyes closed, the happy crinkles at the edges of his eyes giving him the fitting appearance of a gentle giant. Mike was beside Emmett, and I was being held up in a dance-like 'dip' by him while we both laughed. I had thrown my hands out, giving Mike my full trust to hold me up. We were all celebrating our new freedom before even leaving the school grounds; I could see more students in the background on the steps to the gym.

I picked up the other picture, and felt my heart swell. It was of two little kids. The ivory-skinned girl had countless scrapes on her knees and palms from constant trips to the ground. Her hair was messy and clumped with mud, as were here outstretched hands, presenting mud pies to the camera. The smiling boy beside her had dirt-and-water pies in his hands too, and in his hair, on his tanned face, on his clothes, between his five-year old toes… despite knowing how life would turn out for those two careless kids, I felt good thinking that once upon a time all I had to worry about was when Jake would be coming around to play and whether there was yet enough mud to make our own city.

So, if these two photos were here, then the one that was missing was one which I knew I was going to miss quite a bit.

The bell went above me, and I looked up at the clock over my head. It was only the first bell. _No need to hurry._ Biology was just down the hall.

A movement in the corner of my eye caused me to look around. I saw who was approaching, and smiled at him before turning slightly to put the picture back in my locker. I closed the metal door and took a step toward him, about to say hello when a voice cut me off.

"Save, it, baby, I prefer a woman who knows how to use her mouth for more interesting things than talking."

I spun around, instantly furious, to see Jasper Whitlock coming toward me. Jacob strode past me and didn't say a word, not even acknowledging that I had been about to speak to him.

"Stick your head in a blender, Jasper," I hissed at him, feeling an anger which I was sure compared to Alice's.

He just gave me smug look which made me angrier. I lifted a foot to step toward him, but felt a small hand hold me back.

"Go talk to someone who wants to listen, Whitlock," Alice threatened, stepping around me and removing her hand from my shoulder. I knew I was going to have to hold her back from giving him a good butt-kicking – but right now, I didn't really _want_ to hold her back.

Jacob stepped in then. "Let's go," he said quietly in Jasper's direction.

Jasper half turned to see Jacob out the corner of his eye. "Why?" he said, stunned that his best friend wasn't following his lead.

"Cullen," Jacob whispered even quieter. He looked up to the end of the hall, and Jasper followed his gaze. Alice and I spun to see the principal striding calmly through the hall, gently suggesting to the stragglers that it was time to get to class.

"Fine," Jasper snapped back at Jacob, turning to go back in the direction he'd come from. "See you later," he sneered at Alice, who managed herself well enough to not run after him and kick him into the ground, like I wanted to.

"Ladies," Principal Cullen said as he passed us, sensing that we needed a minute before class. Once he was out of earshot, I let out a big breath.

"Idiots," I muttered.

"No doubt," Alice agreed. "I've gotta go," she said, patting me on the shoulder. "See you soon." She headed off to her class while I opened my locker and ducked down to get my biology books from my bag.

I felt extremely angry, both at myself and at Jacob. The self anger was because I'd actually thought Jacob had changed; had even _hoped_ it. What a stupid thing to want. I was angry at Jacob for not being who I wanted him to be. For not standing up for me against someone who was obviously an up-himself prick who didn't deserve to have a pair of legs on which to walk. It was stupid of me; and childish too, but I straightened up with my books in hand and slammed the door of my locker as hard as I could.

It made me feel a little better.

--

I'd spend the first half of my weekend doing homework; so my Saturday had been lost to the clutches of the education monster. This morning, though, I decided to be a good little girl and do some well-needed exercise. Alice, Angela and I had spent our Friday night watching more sappy movies, crying and laughing and booing at the bad guys. We had also divulged at least half of our collective junk-food horde. As I drove toward the Port Angeles gym, I hope that the two of them felt as fat as I did right now.

I pulled into the parking lot, and was pleased to find that there weren't a lot of cars around. Maybe only a few people would be unfortunate enough to see me try and get fit today.

I grabbed the bag containing my change of clothes from the seat beside me, and made sure to lock the truck before heading across the shady parking lot to the reflective glass doors. I could see myself approach – _perhaps a technique used by the gym owners to make people feel more self conscious about themselves?_ – and hoped that what I was wearing would blend in.

I'd thrown on a pair of half-thigh length shorts, a blank tank top and a dark red t-shirt which was a size too big. I'd bundled my long hair into a pony, and had one sweat band around my wrist. My sneakers didn't look too old nor too new, so I was hopeful no one would pay attention to their real age or lack of use. I'd almost gone with long socks for the added warmth, but my inner Alice screamed up a storm at the horror of it all. Besides, by the end of this self-induced torture session, I doubted whether I was going to care how I looked to begin with as long as there were showers to be had afterwards.

I pushed open the door, happy that I could no longer see myself nor second-guess my choice of clothing.

The entrance had a few chairs in a row along the side of the wall, some abstract artwork lining the space above them. The roof had a large vent in it. There was a door immediately to my left, with 'Staff Only' on it in silver lettering. The receptionist's desk curved out from the wall, causing it to take up at least a third of the rather small room. Straight ahead of me were more glass doors, and I could see a blank wall with words and arrows on them indicating the directions of different parts of the gym.

"Hello!" a bright receptionist woman said as I walked into the rather cool room. She seemed to have no problem with the temperature. I would have been pleased with a heater – but then, this _was_ a gym.

"Hi," I said shyly, approaching the counter. "How much for a day-pass?"

She didn't have to look away to tell me the price. "Ten dollars."

"Okay. I'll take one, please."

I dug around in my bag for my wallet while she typed something into her little computer. She then printed something else from some kind of ticket-machine. The wheels of her chair whirred across the rubber floor mat as she moved back to tear the bit of paper off and handed it to me as I handed her the desired currency.

"Thanks," I said, examining the pass.

"No problem. Have a good day!" she said, quickly whipping her hand under the counter to reveal a pamphlet. She handed it to me. It was a map of the place, along with general guidelines, rules, requirements and lots of other things I knew I wouldn't end up reading.

I stood and stared at the map for ten seconds before she cleared her throat.

"Where would you like to go first?" she mercifully asked me.

"Treadmills, I think," I said. _At least I know what to do with a treadmill._

She stood up from her desk so she could see through the glass doors leading into the main body of the gym better. I saw that she obviously spent quality time with the gym equipment. She had a lovely, swimsuit-model figure for which I felt a stab of envy.

"Go through there," she said, pointing at a narrow hall to the right of the shiny signs and arrows. "The actual gym equipment is all off to the right. The courts, swimming pools and showers are to the left, but there's another way to get to the showers through the room on the other side of this wall."

"Thanks," I said, heaving my bag from the floor by my feet. Once I was through the automatic doors, I turned right and headed down the hallway. Lots of doors lead off to the left and right, but none of them said 'gym' or 'weights' or 'treadmills' or 'cardio-equipment' or 'Bella Swan, go this way', which would have been mighty convenient.

Eventually I came to a door with the same kind of label as the others. It said in bold letters, 'GYM'.

I took a deep breath, thinking of the ten dollars I had invested in this afternoon, and pushed open the door.

I had expected to be hit by a wall of smelly, sweaty bodies, but the air smelt sterile; very clean. It reminded me of stepping into a bathroom once someone had just finished showing with vanilla-scented everything. There were people dotted around the place, working out, but not as many as I'd have thought for a Sunday. Maybe Saturdays were the popular days.

I looked around and was relieved to see the treadmills not far off. I knew as soon as the thought of the gym had entered my mind that getting injured was a given, but I'd thought actually getting on the machine first would have come with the price. But no, I tripped on my _way over_, catching myself on the bar of the treadmill before I'd cracked my skull against it. _Lucky_, I thought to myself.

My bag hit the ground at the foot of the running machine with a clattering of several deodorant cans banging against each other. I had at least thought of that necessity.

I looked at the machine and was pleased to see that the buttons were all named and easy enough to use. I hit 'ON', then 'Speed?' – 'Slow' and stepped onto the moving black rubber. I stared down at my feet for a while, concentrating on getting them in front of each other without a collision. It went far better than I'd have hoped. When I was confident enough to look up, I started scrutinising the buttons I'd not touched.

There was a 'Time' button, so I hit that, and saw that a little clock started up, timing the length that I'd been running for. There were also screen-changing buttons, so I hit them, carefully avoiding the speed-increasing buttons beside them. I saw that I was travelling at four miles per hour. Deciding that I could go one better than that, I carefully pushed the 'Up' button to take it up a mile. The little screen informed me that my speed was steadily being increased to five miles per hour. I didn't even notice the change; it was being done so slowly. The endorphins supplied by running were making me feel happy, along with the knowledge that I'd only come close to an injury once so far.

A little while later, I checked what my time was for running. _Twenty-nine minutes._ I smiled. _Good effort._ _When it gets to thirty_, I decided, _I'll take a break_.

"Bella?" A familiar voice asked.

I couldn't help it. It was a reaction. I turned to see if my assumption to the voice's owner was correct, and ended up on the floor behind the treadmill. The machine had given me a fair bit of leverage and I'd only just avoided hitting the stack of weights five metres behind me.

"Geez, way to go! I've never seen anyone do that before!" he laughed, lifting me up around the middle and setting me down on a chair.

"No blood?" I asked, looking up. Tears of pain started to well in my eyes.

"Nah, no blood. Nice egg on your head, though," he said, gently touching my skull. I winced. "Sorry."

"Its okay, Emmett," I said, looking up again at him.

"Back in a sec," he said. I watched him go over to the treadmill and turn it off, checking something on the screen first. He came back with my bag over his arm. "Thirty minutes exactly," he said. I smiled at that.

"Cool." I stood up and put a hand to my head. It was throbbing uncomfortably. "I think I need some ice," I said, stepping toward him and holding out a hand for my bag.

Emmett didn't give it to me. He held on to it with one hand and guided me toward the other side of the gym with the other.

"You look like you could use a drink, too," he suggested, still holding me up. Everything was going a bit wobbly in my eyes.

"Yeah," I agreed. "But ice first."

"Right. Wait here," he said, putting my bag down on a chair and pulling out another for me to sit on. I leant forward on the table, not realising where I really was. After my elbows came in contact with the metallic surface of the table, I looked up.

We weren't in the gym area any more. We were in some kind of café. It was quite cool in here too, but this time I was grateful for it. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my very stylish wrist band. The room around me was fairly large. All the tables and chairs were the same kind of metallic outdoor sets. The floor was white linoleum; the roof was too bright for me to want to look at for the moment. There was a long counter almost completely covering one wall and two people wearing the same green-and-white uniform stood behind it, chatting happily. Fridges filled with drinks sat at one end of the counter. On one side of the stretch of granite there was a glass viewing window for some salads. I could partially see from my chair that on one side of the countertop were racks of gum, lollipops, sausage rolls and pies and other hot foods heating in a pie warmer beside them. On the wall below the windows were many different coloured kinds of energy supplements and health-food magazines. The whole place looked extremely clean and business like, holding barely any kind of personalisation at all. It was a little boring to me, but perfect for its purpose.

Emmett returned from a door in the left corner I hadn't noticed before. He was holding an ice pack in one hand and a small towel in the other. As he weaved through the shiny tables and chairs, he wrapped the ice in the towel.

"Here," he said, handing it to me. "I'll get you a drink. Want anything in particular?"

I thought for a moment. I knew he didn't have to buy me a drink, but I also knew that Alice's stubbornness wasn't just a random thing – it was definitely a family trait.

"Umm, juice I think."

He turned to go to the counter, but hesitated. "Any kind?"

"Yeah, apple and pear, if they have it."

He nodded and headed over to the fridges. I watched as he scanned the contents of one, then moved on to the second one. He found what he was looking for, because he opened it and pulled out a bottle, then grabbed another drink of a different kind.

He held them easily in one hand while he dug around in the pocket of his track-pants for his money. He got to the counter and the two people wearing uniforms split from their chat, the girl going over to Emmett to serve him.

They exchanged friendly talk before she calculated the cost of the drinks and got the money, then returned his change to him. Emmett thanked her and picked them up, coming over to my table again. He sat down and gave me my apple and pear juice.

"Thanks Emmett," I said.

I unscrewed the lid and took a swig. It was lovely and cold. I looked up and saw the girl who'd served Emmett glaring at me, but she looked away quickly when I caught her.

"Do you know the girl at the counter, Emmett?" I asked him, peeling my eyes from the girl's back and looking at the burly man in front of me. He was guzzling from his iced coffee; he took a moment before he answered.

"Nah," he said, wiping his mouth on his hand, then his hand on his t-shirt. "She just always serves me. Dunno why." He raised the drink to his mouth and continued to gulp it down.

"Well, she - _stop doing that or you'll choke_! She was glaring at me. I think she likes you, and I think she thinks that I'm here _with_ you."

Emmett choked on his drink, like I'd predicted, and then started laughing.

"As if I'd go for _her_!" he said mischievously across the table. "Rosalie's enough for any guy. Plus, dating you would be like dating my sister! No offence." he added the last part apologetically.

"None taken." I looked over at her, and she tried to look busy again. I took another mouthful of my drink and let my eyes scan over the shiny surfaces of the room, my thoughts wandering as they pleased.

"Emmett," I said, trying to catch his attention. He had been trying to catch a fly with one hand for the last few minutes, and was concentrating very hard on the task.

"Yeah?" he said, not stopping the hunt.

"Tell me something," I said seriously. He picked up the tone in my voice and dropped his hand back on the table. "How did you and Rosalie get together?"

He smiled at me, and I knew I wasn't crossing a line. But he didn't answer straight away. He watched the fly buzz around the room, but I knew he was thinking so I didn't interrupt him.

"Well," he began, holding his nearly-empty iced coffee drink with both hands. "It was a while ago. I didn't even realise she went to our school at first. I officially met Rose at a party, and at first I just thought she was really hot and would be a good story to tell my mates the next day. But then _she_ came over to _me_. I was shocked. Too shocked to use the old Brandon charm on her." He winked at me and I rolled my eyes, but laughed too. "We got talking, and I found that she was far more interesting than any other girl I'd ever met.

"She looks like she'd beat down any guy that tried to chat her up, and I was right. Some random came and tried to muscle in on my territory, but she shut him down straight away. Told him to go home to mummy because a girl had told him he wasn't big enough or something along those lines. Made me laugh for ages. I knew then that I didn't want to just hook up with her and brag about it, I wanted to talk to her and learn every detail I could about her. I wanted to show her off to my friends, not just tell them about her.

"So after a while, I asked Rose if she wanted to go for a walk with me. She looked a little bit nervous, not something I'd expected, but she said she would. So I told Alice where I was going, and we went out to the garden of this house the party was at. She showed me a little path through the plants, and it was heaps bigger than I'd thought. We talked some more, and she told me about her friends and how they were being really nasty to her since she'd moved schools. I saw a tear go down her face, but she thought I didn't see it because it was pretty dark. I wiped it away for her, and she looked at me like she'd only just realised I was there. Then I leaned down and kissed her, and I was really scared because at first she didn't kiss me back. Then, suddenly, I was stumbling backwards because she'd jumped on me!" He started laughing, and I realised I was smiling at his story. It was such a cute, romantic way to get together. "So when we broke apart, I asked her if I could please have her number. She said, 'sure, where do you want it?' and I kissed here again because she was just so … perfect. And I called her the next day, asked her on a date. She said yes. I was ecstatic. Then, after we'd been on the boat ride-"

"You took her on a boat ride!" I exclaimed, visualising the quiet river with just the two of them on a row boat under the stars.

"Yep," he said proudly. "And I took a picnic rug. We ate dinner on the water. And then, just before I started rowing back to shore, I asked her to be my girlfriend, and gave her my watch."

"Awwwww," I cooed, thinking of how wonderfully gooey that would make me feel inside if any guy were that romantic with me.

"Yeah," Emmett said, looking up at me and smiling his gentle-giant smile. "So we've been together ever since. We fight like hell, but I love every second of it. I think she's more beautiful when she's angry anyway. And there's never been a second when I've wanted to end it." He paused for a moment, thoughtful. He looked around us, pleased to see the room was almost empty except for the two servers, who were having their own conversation on the other side of the room. "Can you keep a secret, Bella?" He asked me, his eyes sparkling.

"Sure," I replied, leaning in closer to hear his whisper.

"I think I'm in love with her," he said, and I found it very hard not to squeal with happiness on his behalf.

"That's fantastic, Emmett! Have you told her?"

"Not yet. I'm saving it to make it special for both of us. She told me she's never said it to anyone before."

"Well, you have to tell me how it goes," I said, exuberantly happy for both him and Rosalie.

"I will." He drained the last of his iced coffee, and got up to put it in the bin by the counter.

In the short minute he was gone, I thought of many things, and many questions to ask.

"Emmett," I said once he'd sat down again with a pie in his hand. He 'mmph'd to let me know he was listening. "What do you think would have happened if you and Rosalie hadn't met at that party?"

"I think we would have met somewhere else, again and again until either of us made a move." He said this without hesitation, like it was a test he'd studied for and knew every answer off by heart.

I was a little stumped by this. I'd expected a bit more time to phrase my next question. "So, you think you and Rosalie were meant to get together?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Definitely yes."

"How?" I was getting muddled by his infallible certainty.

He swallowed the mouthful he'd been speaking through. "Bella," he said, lowering the pie to speak to me. "If something is meant to happen, it will happen. Fate will give you more than one opportunity, you know. To me, life is not a one-chance game. What use would that be? Almost everything _bad_ is one-chance, so shouldn't the good things be easier to get hold of?"

I thought about this for a moment. "But what about me and Mike?"

Emmett rolled his eyes. "That wasn't meant to be Bella, and you know it."

I should've been insulted by this, but I knew he was right and there was no reason to argue about it. "Yeah, but-"

He cut me off. "No 'but's!"

I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't going to mention Mike again."

"Okay, then go ahead."

"You said that fate will give you more chances… but there's got to be a limit, doesn't there? When does it end?"

"When you die," he said simply. "That's when it ends."

I took another gulp of apple and pear juice.

"You know what, Emmett?" I asked, thoughtful.

"What?"

"You're far better at this relationship stuff than I give you credit for."

"Thanks, Bella," he laughed.

"Any time."

* * *

**Well. I know that chapter didn't have a lot of juiciness in it, but I liked the idea of Bella having a chat with Emmett and having us all learn that he's more cluey than you'd think. And what better place to run into him than the gym? I seriously considered having Edward walk in on their conversation, but I knew it would ruin the next chapter.**

**We will see Edward's reply and then Bella's following letter next chapter. I'll post soon! Sorry again about the delay, I was at a friend's house for the last three days. But you love me!**

**-Shaps**


	19. A Soul

**Hello again everyone!! I'm happy to say that this chapter contains _two_ letters; one from Edward and one from Bella. And also, a quick note; the big lines breaking up the sections of the text represent time-changes.**

**Now, as for the reviewers!!**

**Bethany Knight, beggingtobebitten, HarvestEclipse31, Grillllz, laibballfan, GinnyBrown is here and now, books and bojangles, Ghosts in the Snow, LookAfterMyHeart, FrEvrNvrLasts, Music ADD, edwardsfavouriteflavour, bedwardforever, Princess-Tinkerbelle, jacob is the new black, dollegirl, smile for the paparazzi, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, musicormisery4105, BellaAtHeart, twilightaddict26, jennifier potter, yaaaay, 143twilighter, It's Moe, CrazZy-BunNy, x-aly-x, elmooo., Jade.**

**Lots of people mentioned that they liked how I wasn't making Emmett into nothing more than a big bundle of muscles! I'm really happy about that, because I think Emmett would actually (as in, in Twilight) be an unexpectedly deep guy. And I'm a sucker big time for deep guys, I mean, what girl isn't?**

**Special Mentions:**

**HarvestEclipse31: "they only think with one head and its not the one attached to their shoulders LOL!" - Ahahahahahahahahahaaaa! Fanulous, fabulous, love it lol. Aww, you check if I update? That's so nice!! And I loved your Twilight-related analagies to do with stacking it, and seeing a nice pair of buns!**

**Grillllz: Hella yeah! I'm a sucker for a pair of puppy-eyes (well, however you can make cyber-puppy-eyes lol) and a big 'pleeeeease?' But my self control held out!! Lol. Ha, spanish. I hope you weren't yelling at me, though, cos I had no idea what you were peddlin'!**

**books and bojangles: Heh, my friend said "no blood?" when I stacked it last weekend at netball. When she saw I was fine, everyone was like, "Yeah, lets get on with it, she's tough!" and there's me, limping down the court! Lol, joking, but I stack it in netball so much that my teammates just don't notice any more! Lol. Reviewers can be scary when they want, I know.**

**Music ADD: Hahaha, death by treadmill, love it!**

**bedwardforever: Of course! Who else would our Bella be thinking about but the dreamy Edward... -sigh-**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry - I hope the chapter was good despite the badness? (How weird of a sentence is that!) You're right about the lady at the reception, too. And you'll find out which picture it was a little later. (I do that a lot, don't I? Leaving some questions unanswered... but, a little mystery is a good thing!) Ha, drama, I lurve drama. Seriously. It's like my favourite lesson - because we're actually _meant_ to stuff around and be creative and everything. Great outlet!**

**jacob is the new black: Hey, no problem, every great story deserves shameless promotion!**

**dollegirl: Good, good, I wonder sometimes if my constant updating irritates people... Yeah, Bella was totally having an emo moment that day! I heart Wise-Emmett: "Oh, Emmett, please tell me the ways of the world, and I'll buy you a new set of weights..." lol. Not that that boy _needs_ any more weights! You're right about the mysterious lady, too!**

**smile for the paparazzi: Good! I was worrying that you'd lost interest in the story! That was fully a momentary freak-out. But hey, it's all good now! Haha... "i wish i was good friends with emmett!...then i could get to his brother...** **" that was GOLD!**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Lol, Bella+gym don't seem to quite fit, eh! But hell, that's what OOC is! I love messing with their character-style minds. It's great. Wow, 5.5 miles, great effort! I like cycling a bit better than running, but I don't like the butt-pain that accompanies it lol. **

**BellaAtHeart: Yeah... -sighs dramatically- isn't Emmett just a sweetheart? I lurve adorable boys! Bella was at the gym because her, Angela and Alice had a full pig-out the previous Friday and she thought it would be a good idea to try and balance the equation. She'll see Edward very soon. I _might_ write about Emmett and Rosalie's 'I love you' moment, but that will depend where other things fall into place. As to the moth importance, the appearance of moths seems to represent impending problems for Bella. Thanks heaps for reviewing!**

**jennifier potter: Heh, sneaking onto the computer eh? I love doing that. But I hate it when I get caught, cos the punishment extends for like another week. So frustrating. Hope you can read this soon!**

**It's Moe: Cool! A new viewer! I hope you're liking the story so far. And thanks for your review!**

**CrazZy-BunNy: Bella's more happy/insane in this chapter, lol, it's depressing to write Bella when she's depressed. Hope you like it! Thanks for your review!**

**x-aly-x: No worries, I'll give her a buzz on your behalf when I see her next. I like Emmett being all relationship/destiny-ish too :-)**

**Jade: Oh Jados, how sweet you are! Thanks for reading this, by the by, and I'm really glad you like it! The masquerade ball is going to be fabulous, don't you worry! Jasper and Alice will get together but I won't spoil it by saying when or how ;-). Okay, I'll keep you and your judo moves in my mind and use them if necessary, lol. My holidays are going alright, a bit dull, but I totally love sleeping in now! Maths was alright, and I'm glad it's over! Super genius? Me? Ha!**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: A Soul**

* * *

It was Monday again. I was sitting in class with Alice, happy that'd I'd thought of a reason as to why I hadn't read the assigned work set for the weekend. To be truthful, I'd totally forgotten about it. I had considered making it up, but knew that with my luck I'd end up creating a bigger problem than the original. So I had gone for the age old _girl's _excuse – aside from 'my dog ate my homework'.

You don't really need an imagination to think of what the excuse was. And Miss Faulkner could easily sympathise with my situation.

So now, with Alice on one side and Emmett on the other, I was pretending to write down the notes on the board, but I was really reading Edward's letter (happily supplied by Alice) and holding my pen over the paper to fake writing motions.

--

**_Dear Bella,_**

**_Whoa. Big news much? A split, after six months. That sucks. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not really, because I don't reckon he deserved someone as good as you in the first place. (Sorry if I just put my foot in it.)_**

**_And also, with the moth/butterfly thing, you're totally right. Nature does seem to have a bit of a vendetta against you! What'd you do, eat a ladybeetle when you were little or something? Haha. Maybe that was just me…?_**

**_Now, down to the serious stuff. I've been thinking about this all day, so I hope this comes out right, because I think I've found a way to explain what I think on the topic. Though reading your thoughts was really interesting too, it challenged me. Okay, here I go;_**

**_It's not enough to want to love someone. It's not enough for you; it's not enough for them. It's a good thing to want to make Mike happy, but it will eventually be the death of the relationship. You have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince, Bella. If you found your perfect guy without having any practise, how will you know what to do? How will you know he's the right one if there's nothing to compare to? You will meet your prince. You'll have to work pretty damn hard not to! And yes, there are millions of people in the world. But your perfect man wouldn't be your perfect man unless you meet him. That's why he's all yours._**

**_Life is just one big coincidence. What if I hadn't chosen your name for this pen pal thing? Plenty of people have stopped writing to their pals already. I think Leah and I are part of a dying trend at the moment._**

**_People stop looking once they find their "soul mate" because they honestly can't imagine anything better than the one they're with. They have no reason to want to keep looking. And I agree with you; no one deserves to be truly happy unless they can return that happiness to the other person. Things can go wrong very suddenly but your soul mate won't go running in the other direction at the first sign of problems. You are only seventeen, Bella! You've got years and years to find your perfect guy. Don't give up, otherwise that will be the end._**

**_Now, I hope that sounded the way I wanted it to. Hmm ... I'll tell you a story; the one of how Jared and Kim got together (for your inspiration)._**

**_Jared and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. I'd always come down when I was little to stay with my Aunt and Uncle. We were never best friends, but when I moved here to stay for the school year we became that way. What happened between Kim and Jared was completely love at first sight – or at least, a version of it._**

**_Jared and I went camping one weekend. Being the stupid idiots we are (yes, are, not were), we decided to go rock climbing with nothing more than tent ropes for support. I know, I know, it was stupid, but we thought we were indestructible. Kind of still do, I think. But anyway. Jared went down first, and I was controlling the ropes. He started being a fool and swinging from side to side. I couldn't hold it properly, and my hands got caught between the rope and some rocks. I had to let go, or lose my fingers, which would have sucked because I love to play the piano. I tried to step on the rope to hold it up, but I wasn't heavy enough. Jared fell down the rock face about twenty metres, into some shrubs below. He was knocked out._**

**_I got him air lifted out of there. He was still unconscious when we got to the hospital. Fortunately, my Uncle covered the cost of the helicopter and it was all okay, because Jared woke up and only had a concussion. He got the week off school._**

**_When he woke up the same day he'd fallen, he told me he thought he'd died. He said he'd wasted his life and that this second chance wasn't going to waste. He wouldn't even let me apologise for letting go, because he said it was the best thing that'd happened to him in a long time._**

**_Anyway, when he came back to school a week later, he sat down in class and looked at everyone in the room like they were new and wonderful. Then he looked at Kim, the girl who'd sat beside him for more than half of that school year, and fell in love with her. He just saw her and couldn't help it._**

**_I'd known that Kim had a crush on Jared for ages because Leah was best friends with her, even then; and being Leah's cousin automatically means I get every piece of information that her ears do. It was really strange to witness. Jared actually thought he was dead, and that Kim was some lovely product of his imagination._**

**_So there you have it. Love comes in many forms. Even if it takes a life or death situation to make you realise it, it'll always be there. And really, how lost would this world be without it? Everything that is stable is united by some kind of love, as sappy as that sounds. But I think it's true when you think about it._**

**_Anyway, I think I've talked your eyes off (haha aren't I funny?)_**

_No, not really. You are LAME Edward. Go play with your yoyos or something and leave me to the ladies :-)_

**_Yes, hello Paul. Now go away._**

**_Sorry Bella, I've got someone who needs to be given a dead leg or arm before they leave. Hope to hear from you soon!_**

**_Stay happy, and concentrate on the good stuff cos it'll always be there._**

**_Edward Masen_**

**_P.S. Leah actually hit me when I suggested that she wear my clothing. I think I'll give up and settle for smelling like a man._**

**_P.S.S. I heard there's a Pen Pal Meet Party or something coming up – have you heard anything about it? It's a good idea. I'll be there if you'll be there._**

* * *

It was Tuesday night, and like the good students we were, Alice, Angela and I were watching movies late into the night.

"_When great love is rejected, something in a man dies." Angelica said, looking at the clueless lead woman like she was beyond blonde._

Alice sobbed fiercely from beside me, a handful of tissues shoved under her nose. Angela was on my other side, her eyes looking dreamy but sad at the same time. I knew my own were red and puffy, but I didn't care, I loved this movie.

_Win A Date With Tad Hamilton._ One of my all-time favourites. And Alice and Angela obviously approved of the choice, because as everything moved along and they two leads admitted their love for each other, we all cheered happily from our places. Alice sat up and turned it off once the credits started to roll.

"I love Tad Hamilton," Angela said, cooing over the gorgeously attractive Johnny Knoxville.

"Yummmm," Alice hummed, staring at the DVD cover.

I wriggled in my seat, my thoughts in a place deeper than the one Angela and Alice were currently cooing in.

"If you had to pick right now, who would you date?" I asked them both, looking between them for an answer.

"Going on looks, personality, or both?" Alice asked, eager to clarify the rules of the 'game'.

I thought for a moment. "Looks; and you can create his personality."

Angela piped up this time. "Famous or real?"

"Real."

We all sat in silence for a few seconds. Obviously, Alice was first off the mark.

"I got one," she said, wrapping herself more tightly in the blanket.

"Yeah?" I urged her on. Angela, beside me, leaned around me to see Alice better.

"I'd have to go, on looks alone, either Jasper or Sam Uley from Port Angeles."

Angela and I were stunned. We understood the 'Sam' part – but Jasper?

"_Really?_" Angela asked; curiosities clear in her voice.

Alice rolled her eyes. "This is going on looks alone, girls. He may be the most horrible person on the planet… but he's definitely hot."

Angela and I squealed with excitement. We started making kissy faces at her so she smacked both of us lightly on the legs.

"Your turn," she declared, turning on Angela first.

"Okay, well, I think you both know who I'm going to say-"

"BEN CHENEY!" Alice and I yelled at the same time.

Angela shrieked, horrified at our volume, and jumped on both of us to silence our new-found chant of 'Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben BEN BEN BEN!'

We all rolled around and laughed together for a minute before Angela caught her breath and sat up.

"Okay, Bella?" she said, pushing Alice so she wasn't leaning across my knees anymore. Alice rolled over on the ground and landed in front of my folded legs, taking most of the blankets with her.

I tugged at them to distract myself as I said my answer. "On looks alone," I said, being deliberately slow, "I'd have to say Jacob or Edward."

"I KNEW YOU HAD A THING FOR HIM!" Alice practically screamed in my ear.

"Shh," I cautioned, thinking her parents must think we were being hacked to bits with all this noise. "And I do not. This is just on looks." I didn't even know who she was talking about – Edward or Jacob – but I didn't care either. I didn't _like_ either of them like that. They were both friends; Jacob a friend of sorts and Edward definitely a friend. _Right?_

"You suck at lying, Bella," Angela said, laughing and hitting me with a pillow.

"I do not! And I wasn't lying!"

"Yeah, right," Alice contradicted me. Then she hit me with a pillow.

Right. If they wanted a pillow war, they were about to get a pillow war.

I jumped up, sending both of them tumbling to get tangled in their blankets and lolly wrappers. I seized a pillow and started whacking Alice about the legs with it before I felt Angela's weight on my back. I fell onto the soft pile of blankets and cushions at the foot of Alice's bed, then felt the weight of a pixie added to my mass as Alice regained her vigour and jumped on Angela.

We rolled around, giggling furiously, until we were too out of breath from laughing, running, jumping, dodging, hitting, being hit and laughing some more. It felt good to laugh so entirely, and not worry about anything to do with anything.

* * *

_Dear Edward,_

_Wow, you and Jared must be good at getting yourselves into silly situations, cos, honestly, rock climbing? With tent ropes? Way to go!_

_And on the note of Jared and Kim … awww! That's so cute! And romantic too, gosh, why can't there be more guys like Jared in the world? Maybe I could kidnap him and unleash him on the boys of Forks. I don't think many of the girls here would object – though I don't know that Kim will be all-for the idea._

_Sorry about my last letter – I know it was pretty damn depressing. I just think I was having a really bad week and I decided to use you as a vent. You don't mind? I am a girl, so I reckon it might happen again one day. Might...? Haha, anyway, back to more normal things._

_Guess what happened to me last week? I went down to the supermarket to get some bread, and my truck wouldn't start when I wanted to leave! So I eventually found my phone, and called Charlie, but he wasn't home, and all my friends were unavailable. Unlucky? Yes. Unusual for me? No. So I had to call this guy I knew and was good friends with once upon a time – Jacob Black – I think I might have mentioned him ages ago when he interrupted me writing to you. Anyway, so Jake agrees to help me, and once my truck was fixed he left again. I thought I might have scared him off because I had a minor break down when he mentioned Mike, but he seemed fine. So the next day at school I saw him, and was about to say hello when his best friend cut me off and totally insulted me right in front of Jacob; who didn't do a thing. I was this close to punching his stupid face into the ground (both Jake's and Jasper's). Jasper just makes me so mad sometimes! But I'm getting off the topic. So I was about to say hello to Jake, and he ignored me. He went back to being the horrible nuisance he usually is in one night! How is that possible? And why?!_

_So, moving on … Oh, I know! When Alice was texting me when I was stranded, she said she was watching the Port Angeles football practise. Do you play? Do any of your friends? If Sam doesn't, I think he should. That guy is a tank! He could clean up the whole field of opponents by jumping up and down a few times. Joking, joking! Don't tell Sam I said that. He's a fantastic guy. But he is buff to the max. And I think you'd be a really good quarterback, I mean, you're like supernatural when you run! Incredible. I'd love to be that coordinated._

_Speaking of which, guess what I was brave enough to do the other day? When was it? …-scans memory-… Sunday! It was Sunday when I went to the gym. And you know what? I didn't hurt myself – until Emmett turned up and scared me to death. I slipped off the treadmill and ended up almost being crushed to death by a big stack of weights. But I think I succeeded in running off the ten or so pounds that I gained during my junk-food fest with Alice and Angela on Friday night. So once I'd managed to not kill myself, Emmett got me some ice and a drink and we sat and had a chat for a while. He told me some really interesting things, like, his perspective on life and stuff. In fact, what he said sounded a bit like your perspectives on this whole 'love' thing. So my weekend was quite interesting._

_Now; this Pen Pal Meet Party thing. I asked Alice about it, and she said that there is one happening. I didn't know about it, though! I think she wanted to surprise me with it, so thankyou for spoiling it, Edward. I hate surprises. I owe you one. She said that it is this Friday and that it'll be in the high school gym (e.g. here in Forks). Regardless of whether I want to go or not, I'll be dragged along. You might as well have a share in the social misery, if you really want to!_

_See you soon, but that's not an excuse to not write back! I'd better be seeing a letter on Monday, Mr Masen!_

_Still concentrating on the good stuff, cos it is here,_

_Bella Swan_

_P.S. I like Leah more and more each time you mention her!_

_--_

I looked around the history room, wondering why I was the only one. The lesson was supposed to start more than five minutes ago, and Mr Arnold was not one for lateness. I was beginning so suspect that I'd missed a room change or something when Alice came bounding through the doorway, humming.

"Good morning!" she said happily, her arms swinging by her sides as she moved in a way that looked to defy gravity.

"Hey, Alice," I returned, relief unknotting the tightness in my chest. "Have we moved rooms?" I asked, hoping that we hadn't and that I was right and everyone else was just freakishly late.

But Alice crushed my minor dream when she said, "Yeah, we're all in the gym watching some lame video on the Wall Street crash."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Mr A. sent me back because he left our assignment sheets in here and he needs photocopies of them." She yanked open a drawer in the teacher's desk and rifled around for a minute, then revealed a likely-looking piece of paper.

"Can I come for a walk, then?" I asked, thinking of how everyone would turn and look at me if I were to walk into the gym late – _and_ on my own.

"Sure!" Alice bounced on the spot while I shoved my books into my bag and slung the strap over my shoulder. Obviously, the habit of going to my locker every day was long lost and dead.

I followed Alice out the door, noticing that she was wearing a dress with more layers than I could count. It was black, long sleeved, and she was wearing tights with a pair of black sandals. Only Alice could wear such an ensemble and make it look good.

I looked down at my plain jacket-and-track pants outfit. At least I blended in better than Alice did. And how was she not freezing to death?

We passed a heater then, and I immediately got goose bumps. _That_ was how she was not freezing to death.

We walked under the sheltered areas to get to the front office. Alice took the side door rather than the front door, something students rarely did in case a bad-tempered teacher caught them. I followed her in and sat down on one of the dull looking chairs while Alice chattered happily to Mrs Cope. A moment later, she joined me while the copies were being made.

"So what's up, Bella?" she asked, examining her fingernails.

I didn't have much to say, so I just said, "Nothing. You?"

"Well, actually, I was thinking of this party you might want to go to." She looked away from her hand to me. "Are you busy on Friday night?"

"Am I ever busy on Friday nights?"

"Good point. Then you'll go?"

I looked at the poster-covered notice board opposite me. A bright pink one caught my eye- it was for the Pen Pal Meet Party. No doubt this party was the one Alice was referring to – but I thought I'd better make sure, just to be safe.

"You're talking about the Pen Pal party, aren't you?" I sat up a bit because I'd been sliding down the seat while we talked.

"Yep. The very same." She held her hands together over her nose, like she was praying I would go.

I rolled my eyes, and nodded. Alice immediately started squealing and bouncing on her seat.

"You will?!"

"Yes, Alice," I said, trying to sound bored. But I knew she'd heard the badly masked anticipation in my voice, because I certainly had.

"Bella! You're going to have the most awesome time, I promise!"

She kept rambling on about how she was going to dress me up and how we were going to meet lots of cute Port Angeles boys and that she would have to go shopping to get something 'to die for!' to wear.

I looked around the room as Alice kept up her constant stream of words. On the notice board I looked at the hot pink P.P.M.P. note, and tried to cement into my memory that it started at about seven thirty and that only those people who actually had pen pals were permitted to be there.

I scoffed in my own mind, thinking that if someone who wasn't a pen pal wanted to get in, it wouldn't be very hard.

When I looked over at the counter to see if Mrs Cope was anywhere near finishing the copying process, a blue shoebox caught my eye. The sight of it reminded me that I needed to return Edward's letter.

I turned back to Alice, who was still chattering.

"…will have to come too. Did you know she was writing to Kim? I didn't know that. I thought it was pretty cool to be honest. I still haven't found out who Angela's writing to, though."

I cut her off before she could take another breath.

"Alice?" I asked, pulling my hand out of my bag with the envelope in it. "Can you chuck this in the shoe box for me?"

She eagerly took it from me and didn't say a word before she hopped up and posted it. Mrs Cope appeared behind the desk before she could come back to me.

"Here you are, dear," she said to Alice, and handed her the small wad of papers. Alice took them from her with a perfected teacher-friendly smile.

"Thank you so much, Mrs Cope. Mr Arnold will be happy with this!" She laughed in a manner different to her usual laugh, but it fit the presence of Mrs Cope perfectly. Alice would be very good at customer service.

"No problem, dear. Have a nice day. And say hello to your brother for me!"

She waved a small wave as Alice and I left through the same side door we'd come in by. It was a good choice, because the sheeting rain had returned and was determined to make its protests against two lost victims. I could still hear it when we got back to the darkened gym.

Despite my original fears, no one turned to look at us as we came in. Alice skipped over to our history teacher and handed over the papers, graciously thanking him for his thanks to her before turning and taking the stairs two at a time to join me where I sat beside Rosalie. Rose had put her things on the seat beside her to save two spots for Alice and I; I'd seen her picking them up when we came in.

"Thanks," I whispered to her. Alice sat down beside me and exhaled loudly, energetic as always.

"No problem," Rose whispered back, giving me a small but friendly smile.

The three of us turned toward the projected images on the opposite wall. For the remainder of the lesson, I was distracted by the unfortunate people who had suffered through the depression.

* * *

**Now, since you all are champions and far more creative than I, I was hoping that this chapter's question could be more of a request. I'm aware that the summary for this story is shirty, so, could you please write one for me? I'll mould the best ones together and update the summary when I post the next chapter. Thanks heaps!! Here's the summary I'm using atm:**

**"ALL HUMAN. Bella and Edward write to each other for a school program. Alice hates Jasper, and Bella hates Jacob. There's nothing Bella can think of to improve in her life... until Edward becomes a part of it."**

**You can copy parts of the original if you like. Thanks again, and as always, tell me what you thought of this chapter!!**

**-Shaps**


	20. Pen Pal Meet Party

**Incredible! You guys are seriously awesome, I mean, 432 reviews?! Wahhh!! Dancing on the ceiling right now!**

**Okay, down to business; the reviewers are:**

**Ghosts in the Snow, literatefanatic27, UnreliableVampire, Bethany Knight, x-aly-x, AlwaysAround888, sweet333249, BellaAtHeartt, dollegirl, edwardsfavouriteflavour, 143twilighter, laibballfan, Music ADD, LookAfterMyHeart, HarvestEclipse31, yaaaay, booknerd14, LivforLove (x5), Princess-Tinkerbelle, dot, Prince SILAS III, CarzZy-BunNy, bedwardforever, Grillllz, twilightaddict26, Intoxicated By His Presence (x2), mari alice, smile for the paparazzi, musicormisery4105, vampiressuck.**

**Special Mentions:**

**Thankyou for your summary suggestions! literatefanatic27, UnrealiableVampire, BellaAtHeartt, laibballfan, booknerd14, Prince SILAS III, twilightaddict26, smile for the paparazzi, **

**literatefanatic27: I reeeally wanted to use your summary suggestion, but the silly 255 character limit wouldn't let me -pouts- but I absolutely loved it!**

**x-aly-x: I always do that too!! I kick my parents off the computer cos, "I need to do school work." Ha! School holidays, anyone? How's your haircut? Do you like it? I'll do my best to throw Jasper back into the mix as soon as I can. Yumm... bad ass Jasper...**

**AlwaysAround888: Totally watch Win A Date With Tad Hamilton... it's so sweet! It seems very corny and horrid in some parts, but there are reeeeeally sweet bits which totally apply (as in the morals) to life too. Woo! I love pillow fights, they're awesome fun!**

**sweet333249: Nope, Carlisle and Esme are human.**

**BellaAtHeartt: Nope, the party isn't formal. More of a meet and greet, but with a lot of sugary lollies instead of sandwiches lol.**

**dollegirl: Aww... you're already hoping for a sequal? Lol. I'll have to see how people like this story, too, though. I'll probably end up writing a short sequal to pacify my insane friend Ally anyway, so if that happens I'll wing you a copy.**

**Music ADD: Ha, yeah, I reckont the treadmill incident counts as a near death experience!**

**HarvestEclipse31: Lol, I was doing my best to make Bella try and understand Edward's intentions, but no, she wouldn't hear of it!! I agree with you though on the 'why do we doubt ourselves?' point - hot (straight) guys _have_ to take an interest in a girl some time!**

**LivforLove: Well, Bella knows that if Alice gets her hands on Jasper then Jasper will go crying to a teacher and probably get Alice a detention. Lol, I wouldn't hold her back either! Despite this, Alice likes to fight her own battles, so even though Emmett's been very close to breaking Jasper's nose, he's always waited for Alice's approval. So far, he hasn't gotten it, but he's ready to pounce. Heh, I call ladybeetles variations of the name all the time. I can't seem to make up my mind! I'll do my best with the masquerade ball :-) **

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: Heh, oh Ellie, your reviews are like the bright red light globe in a row of clear ones! A fabulously funny stand-out. I loved the Kim/Jared story too, and I was so proud that I thought of it on the spot! I wish there were guys like that at my school too, lol. Brave, rock climbing with tent ropes? I'd say it was more of a skillful stupidity, lol! Aw, don't hang your head, start dancing on the ceiling like I am! (Yeah, you already knew I was nuts.)**

**dot: Don't worry, all in good time! There will certainly be some lovin' soon!**

**Prince SILAS III: Lol, I'm glad you like this story! Thanks for both the story recommendation and the summary suggestion :-) I heart Emmett, he's such a sweetie lol.**

**CrazZy-BunNy: Bella's a silly girl, she doesn't seem to get it... Edward lurves her!! And she lurves him!! Get together already! You're going to Turkey? SICK!**

**bedwardforever: You're close, it wasn't Alice who told him - it was Leah (who was told by Alice, so you're technically right). But in true Edward style, he doesn't believe her, but he can try to make her see how _he_ feels, right?**

**Grillllz: Lol, well, if you can speak-a da Spanish then go crazy! I know I would! You overlooked other chapter updates to read mine? Aww! I feel so special! Lol. Puppy eyes, love it!**

**vampiressuck: Mike's a sissy! He's used to being given everything he wants - he was the fat kid in the playground who would tell people he peed in the sand so no one would sit in the sand pit and he could have it all to himself; and he wouldn't want something unless someone else wanted it; and he always threw away his toys - they were never taken from him. But Bella took herself from him, so, he is (kind of) chucking a tantrum over the whole break-up.**

**--**

**Now, I know this chapter isn't as well written as usual, so I'll apologise in advance. I read through it again just a few minutes ago, and everything pretty well made sense. But I had to read a bit slower than usual. Sorry again! Hope the chapter's okay :-D**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty: Pen Pal Meet Party**

* * *

Angela and I leant to the left as inertia demanded as Alice turned into the parking lot of Forks High School. Tonight was the night of the 'big' Pen Pal Meet Party; a string of four words which had in the last five hours become extremely annoying to me. Angela and I looked at each other, seeing a slightly different face on the other than the ones we were used to looking at. Alice turned back to us from the front seat, jittery and excited as always.

Alice had abducted both Angela and I after school, following me home first then picking up Angela on the way back to her flashy mansion. Luckily for both Angela and I, Alice had picked out clothing that was quite tame considering her usual tactics. Beside me, Ange was wearing a multicoloured t-shirt dress over a pair of her own jeans. Her feet donned a pair of sandals which were rarely worn due to the usually unbearably cold conditions. She had her hair down tonight, and looked lovely. I'd managed to hold Alice back in the makeup department, so she only had on a bit of mascara and blush.

I, however, wasn't quite so lucky.

Angela's makeup had taken Alice no more than a minute to apply. Mine, however, took her more than ten minutes. I had been to afraid to look in the mirror, instead asking Angela for her opinion.

"You look good," she'd said.

I hoped like anything that she was right, because now there was no turning back. In front of me, Alice hopped out of her seat and stood outside the car, fumbling in her purse for something. While I watched, she unveiled a light coloured lipstick and applied it using her reflection in the window of the car.

Angela got out next, being careful not to catch her new shirt-slash-dress on anything.

Alice snapped her purse closed, lipstick safely inside, and waved the keys in my direction.

"Get out, Bella, or I'll lock you inside and you'll die a dishonourable death."

I paused for a moment, wondering if she was serious, but when she raised the automatic keys I threw my door open.

"Alright, alright! I'm out!" I brushed myself off, trying to maintain some dignity.

I looked down at my clothing, then at the school gym, thankful that the building had good heating. Looking back down at what I was wearing, I was convinced that this was not my body.

Alice had dressed me in a black tank top which was a little longer than conventional shirts. I was glad of this fact; if I needed to reach up for anything I wouldn't be exposing any stomach or my butt-crack. Over this I had a black jacket with a deep v-neck collar; red and white pinstripes giving it some dimension. Alice had been nice enough to let me keep my jeans, too, once I started complaining that Ange had been allowed her own pants. But, unlike Angela, I'd been given the luxury of closed shoes. My boots were black, went to my knees and had pointy toes. Alice had tried to convince me to wear them _over_ my jeans, but it was extremely uncomfortable so I'd protested until she'd backed down.

"Come on," Angela's voice cut through my thoughts.

I looked up, and Angela was just in front of me with a hand extended in my direction. It was held up in a way that made me think she'd been waving it in my face to try and grab my attention. Way in front of her was Alice; so far ahead in fact that the light pouring from the gym was giving her a shadow so long that her elongated head was almost at Angela's feet.

"Coming, coming," I said quietly, taking a step to be beside Ange as we followed after Alice.

A minute later we were at the doors of the gym.

It didn't look much different than usual. There were tables set up beneath the basketball ring at our end of the court. Each of them had a teacher behind it, and each table had different kinds of baked goods or various bubbly drinks. The teachers were talking to each other, not really interested in what the kids were doing, nor whether people were waiting to be served or not. I doubted that any of them were here voluntarily.

The only teacher I could see interacting with the students was Principal Cullen, who seemed so at ease it was as though he were one of them. Mrs Cope was manning the punch stand, staring open-mouthed at him and all his strange glory. I smiled at the scene, and followed after Angela when I felt a tug of her hand on mine.

"Hey, guys!" Ange said cheerfully when we took our places in a group of people I already knew.

Alice was there, and Angela, obviously. There was also Leah, Sam, Kim, Paul, Ally and Tyler (who were holding hands), Bianca (Ally's bestie), Ben and Jared.

I was more disappointed than I ought to be to see that Edward wasn't there.

"How are you, guys?" Leah said to both Ange and I.

"Good," I replied just as Ange said the same thing. We looked at each other and laughed at the timing.

"Where's Edward?" Leah asked me. The question was innocent enough, and I opened my mouth to tell her that I didn't know and she would have far more of an idea than I would when I noticed her eyes flick over my shoulder.

I froze, sensing someone behind me, then screamed as I was lifted into the air and swung around. Edward laughed as my hands latched themselves onto his arms, terrified of going flying. _If I'm going down, he's going with me!_

"Edward!" I squealed breathlessly, and he put me down, still laughing. Everyone else was laughing too, Ally was doubled over and clutching to Tyler's arm to hold herself up. Tyler was looking down at her, an ear-to-ear smile on his face.

"You should, have seen, your face!" Ally managed to splutter out between bouts of uncontrollable laughter.

I tried to take a few steady breaths to slow my heart down. I turned to Edward, satisfied with my current heart rate.

"Edward," I greeted calmly.

I heard Alice on the other side of the circle whisper, "He's in for it now."

And she was right.

"Hello," Edward said, still smiling at me.

I was sure enough that his guard was down, so I leapt forward and started pummelling every part of him I could reach. "That, was, not, funny!" I said between punches. He held his arms over his head, retreating and laughing. He was keeping up a stream of 'ow, ow, ow's. His stupid torso was like a rock; I was convinced that I was hurting myself more than him.

He eventually got control enough to reach out and catch my wrists in his warm hands. I felt a tingle go up my arms and into my heart from where he had touched me, and I was suddenly very aware that he had caught me so my back was pressed against his front and I couldn't move.

I stared at our onlookers and had to laugh when I saw Ally sitting at Tyler's feet, inconsolable in her laughter. There were tears streaming down her face and she was shaking in silent giggles. Her hands were holding her sides, and I knew she was going to have a stitch once her breath returned to normal.

"Truce?" he whispered in my ear. I felt shivers work their way up my back, making my hair stand on end.

I tried to keep the internal tremble from my voice. "Truce."

"Well, if you're done trying to kill each other," Sam said suddenly, and the group's focus turned to him. (Other than Bianca and Tyler, of course; who were both trying unsuccessfully to get a nearly hysterical Ally to her feet.)

"Yeah," Leah agreed, looking over our heads toward the food and drinks tables. "I'm kinda thirsty."

Edward let go of me, and my back felt a little cold without his warmth there. Before I could linger on that fact for too long, though, we all turned and headed over to the snacks, filling our hands with chips and lollies and sugary things that I'd just spend my Sunday trying to work off.

"Got enough?" I asked Edward, who was beside me. He had his hands held against his chest, tons of junk food trapped against his shirt.

"Nah, of course not! I'll be coming back for more later."

"Uh huh." I rolled my eyes and picked up a red frog, popping it into my mouth. "How do you plan on actually getting those things to your mouth from your hands?" I asked, spotting a problem.

Edward didn't think it was a problem. "Like this," he said simply, lowering his head down and sucking the food into his mouth like a vacuum cleaner.

"Disgusting," I said as he raised his head and smiled toothily, revealing the spoils of his chewing to me. But I had to laugh, too.

We walked back over to where the group had been before but everyone had dispersed. Ally, Tyler, Kim, Jared and Ben were talking in an intimate little group by the entrance doors. Angela, Paul, Bianca and Sam were all talking together as well, sitting in a way that included no one else, over on the spectator stand on the side of the gym. I noticed that the 'GO SPARTANS!' poster hadn't been fixed yet. I assumed that Alice and Leah were here somewhere too; plotting their evil ways away from prying eyes and ears. So that just left Edward and I … alone.

"So," Edward said, and I knew that it wasn't a 'so… this is awkward' kind of comment. He wanted to say something.

"Yeah?" I prompted, probably a little too eager for his voice to sound again.

"Do you know somewhere we could talk, a little more privately?" He sounded serious. I was immediately worried.

"Is everything okay?"

He smiled, and I relaxed. "Everything's fine. I just have a bit of a headache is all." As if to prove his point for him, Mrs Cope laughed rapaciously at something, looking over at the principal to see if he was paying her any attention. The noise hurt my ears.

"Okay. There are benches by the doors to the canteen," I said, hoping that the hallways were unlocked.

I stepped toward the doors at the other end of the hall, and Edward followed me out. He caught up and walked at my side as I weaved through the poles holding up the verandas. We finally got to the set of doors leading into the hallway by my locker, and I put my hand on the handle but didn't open it.

"Fingers crossed," I said sarcastically to Edward, who smiled at my lame joke.

I shoved my body weight into the door, hoping that it was open. It rattled a bit, but didn't allow me admission.

"Damn," I muttered, planting my feet and pushing as hard as I could against it.

"Bella," Edward said, putting his arm out and pointing at a sign by the handle. My cheeks immediately burned.

"Oh, uh, right. Pull." I laughed nervously. "I knew that." I leaned away from the door and pulled it, holding it open for Edward to go in first.

"Thanks," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I closed the door behind me, and turned back to him, mouth half open to say, 'this way,' but Edward was looking at me with a most peculiar expression on his face. He turned away quickly though, so I couldn't decide what it was.

"Which way?" he asked, looking up one end of the hall, then down the other.

"Here," I said, pointing to the right.

There were lockers lining the right hand side of the hall, mine mixed in there somewhere. On the left were notice boards filling the intervals between classroom doors, messily filled with fliers and colourful notices. Below one of the notice boards about five doors down was the first of a few benches outside the cafeteria. I lead the way, Edward just a step behind me. I was very aware of this fact for the thirty seconds or so we were on our feet, and I felt unreasonably self-conscious about it.

We finally got to the old graffiti-covered wooden benches, and I sat down in the middle, giving Edward the option to sit beside me or leave a bit of space between us.

He sat down so closely that I'd swear I could feel his body heat; but we weren't quite touching. I very much wanted to wriggle over and close the small space between us, but didn't for the paralysing fear of rejection.

"So," I said after a minute of silence. This time, my 'so' _was_ a 'so… this is awkward'. Edward cleared his throat and hung his head, his hands folded. He was leaning forward and I couldn't see his face properly. I wanted to see what emotion was painted across his features, so I leaned forward too.

He turned to me then, and I hadn't realised how close my face was to his. I was frozen there, like a deer in the headlights, and couldn't move. Edward blinked at me, but didn't move either. A loud beep went off in my pocket, and my heart almost screamed in my chest. I jumped, tearing my gaze from Edward's deep green eyes, and reached into my pocket for my phone. I was too embarrassed to see what expression Edward wore so I kept my eyes and face down. My cheeks were burning with awkwardness.

"It's Alice," I said. "She wants to know where I am."

Edward mumbled something in response, but I didn't hear him properly.

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

He'd definitely said _something_, but I let it go.

"I'll text her later. She'll get over it." I got out of the inbox and shoved my phone back in my pocket. Edward's expression was solemn; like he was battling with himself. "So," I started, hoping to distract him from whatever was bothering him. "How's your headache?"

He paused for a moment before answering. "Still here. But it's a little better, being away from the noise."

I couldn't think of a very good response to that. "Good."

Silence for _three heartbeats, four heartbeats, five heartbeats…_

"Bella," Edward said, and I knew he was getting to the point. I looked at him, showing that I was listening. "Do you mind if I talk to you about something personal?" he asked unnecessarily.

"No problem. What's up?" I was trying to keep the mood light, but Edward's sombre face didn't change.

"I was talking to my mother on the phone the other night. She mentioned something that worries me. I asked her if it was alright if I stayed in Port Angeles for a bit longer in the holidays because I wanted to go on a road trip with Sam and Jared and Paul, and she said that was fine, but I would need to ask my father first."

He looked at me, waiting for a response. I didn't understand the problem.

"I don't know why that's a bad thing…?"

He stared at me, the cogs of his mind turning. "Did I tell you that my dad's not around any more?"

_One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats. Four heartbeats. Five heartbeats._

Then I remembered. He mentioned it in one of his earliest letters, in passing. _"I'm originally from Alaska though. My mum back there travels a lot with her work, and my dad isn't around anymore."_

"Oh!" Now I understood.

Edward ducked his head down, hiding his face while he continued. "So I asked her what was going on, 'cos dad isn't around to ask permission from. She told me it wasn't something we could discuss over the phone, and I said that it was cruel to leave me hanging. So she sighed, and told me that she isn't my real mother. Aunt Esme is. And Uncle Carl is my real father. I dropped the phone and ran into my room. This is the first time I've come out in public since Saturday."

_Whoa. Bombshell much?_ I wondered how he had managed to not tell me this in a letter; it would certainly have been easier – but then I remembered that he'd have handed in the letter on Friday last week. The day before he found out that eighteen years of his life were built on a fairly painful lie.

"Edward, I … I don't know what to say. 'I'm sorry' doesn't cut it."

He'd hidden his face in his hands, so I settled for putting my arm around him and leaning my chin on his shoulder. He slowly turned to me, but didn't lift his head. His arms wrapped around my torso, and I moved my own so they were around his neck. We sat like that for a while, my temple resting on his collar bone. He was so much bigger than me that I felt like _he_ was comforting _me_, not the other way around.

After a long time which seemed too short to me, Edward loosened his grip on me and mine on him. His eyes were pained, but he hadn't had any tears betray him like I would have.

I didn't know what to say, and the silence was so pivotal that I was afraid of messing it up. Either he was going to push me away, embarrassed that he'd had such a moment in the company of someone he barely knew; or we were going to be fine, even better friends than before.

I waited, and waited. Finally he spoke, and my breath caught in my throat.

"Thanks," he said, grabbing one of my hands in his.

I smiled and exhaled as evenly as I could manage; relieved beyond belief that I'd not just lost him.

Edward looked down at my pale fingers. "You're cold," he commented.

I laughed quietly. "I'm always cold. It comes with the address."

Edward laughed too. "Give me your other hand." So I held out my other palm to him, and he clapped my hands together like I was praying. He then covered them with his own, making warmth and colour come into my face and the back of my neck.

I was horribly worried that I was going to mess up _this_ moment, so I gently withdrew my hands from his soft grasp. "We should get back. Alice is probably ripping up the gym looking for me by now."

"Oh, yeah. Everyone else is still out there." Edward seemed to have forgotten that it wasn't just the two of us on our own lonely planet. He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it.

As we walked back, my hands still felt very warm. My cheeks, nose and lips were freezing so I pressed the back of my hand against my mouth, trying to warm it.

"What're you doing?" Edward asked from beside me. I looked up at him without removing my hand.

I rolled my palm around to warm my cheek. "My face feels cold. So I'm trying to warm it up."

"Oh." He walked in silence beside me, looking at our feet. "I can't really warm that up for you, can I?"

I smiled to try and dispel the looming awkward moment. "You probably could. Here, give me your hand."

We stopped walking and he gave me access to his warm skin again. I pressed the back of his hand to my cheek, and we stood right beside the doorway like that for a moment. He was staring into my eyes, and the serious expression had returned. The half smile was still on my face, but my cheeks slowly lowered as Edward brought up his other hand and held my face between his palms, warming my cheeks.

I couldn't have moved, even if I'd wanted to.

And I realised that when Alice, Angela and I had been talking about who we'd love to date, I should have only said one name. It wouldn't have mattered whether we'd been allowed to say a famous person, whether it was on looks or personality or both. Because I would have said the same name every time.

"Edward," I said quietly.

This, rather than bring him closer to me, made him draw back, his hands flying from my face like he'd been shocked. Suddenly, I was being yanked through the doorway. Edward was running ahead of me at a speed I couldn't have achieved in my truck let alone on foot. I tried to look behind me, but all I could see was the blurry outline of the building. Someone opened the door and called out to us, but Edward didn't stop. _Who's he running from? _We blitzed through the rain, which was kindly drenching me and my new clothes.

Then, we were inside again, bright lights making my eyes hurt for a moment.

"Bella!" a jingly voice shouted in my ear. "Where were you? Why didn't you text me back?"

"Settle, Alice, I was fine." I coughed and wiped my eyes, then wrung my hair out on the gym floor. The teachers looked on with disapproval at the mess I was making, but none of them cared enough to come over and voice it.

Angela was beside me then, her hands on my very-wet arm. "You're soaked!" She looked me up and down, her eyes lingering on the now ruined boots on my feet. I sneezed. Angela clucked her tongue. "You're going to get a cold. I think we'd better go," Angela suggested, looking to Alice for approval.

Alice was torn between helping an old friend and getting to know her new ones. The Port Angeles kids were all standing behind her, quietly chatting to one another. Edward wasn't with them. I looked around. He wasn't even in the gym! _What the-?_

"Bella, I'm going to drop you home. Do you think you'll be alright?" Alice pushed my matted hair out of my eyes and felt my head to see how cold I really was.

My throat felt icy, as usual, but my teeth were chattering. I tried to voice an answer but it wouldn't come out, so I just nodded. I just needed a shower and some dry clothes. It annoyed me that I was so delicate that fifteen seconds in the rain without a jacket was going to give me the sniffles. _Wonderful._

"Okay," Alice said. "I'll be back in a moment. I'm just going to let everyone else know where we're going."

I nodded again, and Angela stayed with me to rub my arms while Alice delivered her speedy goodbyes.

She came back, and Angela became the new Entertainer from Forks for a while. Alice steered me toward the door, her arm over my shoulder to try and provide some warmth. We just stepped outside when Alice squealed in fright. A shadow emerged, and I saw that Edward had taken refuge outside for some bizarre reason. I didn't really care right now, though, because he was holding a jacket out to me.

"I'm sorry," he said, handing it to my now severely shaking hand. I took it and tried to smile, but didn't do so well.

"What happened?" Alice demanded.

For some reason, Edward lied.

"We were walking back from the … oval, and it started to rain so we ran back. I've got a bit of a headache, so I'm going to head off home now. Can you let Jared know that I'm crashing at his place tonight?" Alice looked thoroughly confused, but she nodded in obligation anyway. "Thanks."

Then he turned and headed for the edge of the sheltered steps, bracing himself to walk to his car, wherever that might be. I concentrated on pushing my arms through the sleeves of Edward's jacket. I only realised Alice had called Edward back once I'd pulled the zipper closed with shaking hands.

"So you know where she lives?" Alice seemed excited about something. I heard a response from Edward, but it didn't register because I was fiddling with the hood of the coat, drawing it tightly around my ears. "Cool. Thanks, Edward."

"No problem."

Then, I found myself leaning too far forward because Alice had dashed away, leaving me with no support around my shoulders. Edward took her place before I'd really moved at all, and we descended the steps together.

"Th- th- thanks," I stuttered through chattering teeth.

"Shh," he said quietly. "You don't have to say anything."

It started to rain heavier overhead, to Edward groaned, torn over something. A second later, I knew what it was, because my slow feet were swept out from under me and Edward was carrying me to his car. I don't know how he got the door open without dropping me, but he did it just the same.

I faintly noticed the smell of leather, and bright lights coming to life on the radio as the quiet motor under me burred. I only knew we were moving because my head moved slightly as he reversed then drove forward out of the car park.

The heaters thawed me out after a minute or so, quite a short time to me, so I was able to speak more coherent sentences.

"You're taking me home?" I clarified, thinking it was pretty obvious.

Edward thought it was acceptable to be sarcastic, however. "I'm actually kidnapping you. We're going to live in the forest like Tarzan and Jane. Do you have a problem with loincloths?"

I tried very hard to stop the picture of Edward's muscular body in a loincloth from entering my mind, but failed miserably. It was quite a nice image anyway.

"No, no problem with loincloths." We both smiled and stared ahead at the road. I saw my exit coming up. "Take the next right," I said, untangling my hand from the jacket to point. The indicator clicked quietly until we were cruising along the home stretch.

I realised that not only was I still wearing Edward's jacket, but the hood was drawn tightly over my head. Embarrassed, and hoping that in the dark Edward wouldn't notice, I loosened the little strings and pushed it off my head.

Edward laughed very quietly beside me.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing." I stared at him, and he knew that I knew he was lying. "Okay, okay, you looked cute with the hood on is all."

I laughed and hit him lightly in the arm. "Yeah, right."

Our smiles eventually faded, and we sat in a comfortable silence as Edward turned correctly onto my street. "This one?" he asked, indicating to Charlie's house.

"Yep."

He stopped, but left the car (and heaters) running. I unzipped his jacket and folded it in half, putting it between the seats.

"Thanks," I said, smiling at him and putting a hand on the door in readiness to get out.

Edward paused for just a moment too long before answering. "No worries."

I knew where his thoughts were, and though I knew I'd probably stuff up my intended comforting, I tried anyway.

"Edward," he looked at me at the sound of his name, and his lovely face was breathtaking in the bluish light provided by the radio. "There's a valid reason for everything. Someone once told me that life is one big coincidence. Maybe someone upstairs is testing you? I really don't know. But what I _do_ know is that you're strong enough to handle this. And handling it doesn't mean blocking out any help that's offered. So if you want to talk, let me know. Okay? There's nothing wrong with being human."

I thought that it came out pretty well.

Edward smiled and looked down at his hands. "Thanks, Bella." He looked very sad, despite my would-be inspiring speech.

Then I did something that I hoped didn't give me away. I leaned over to him, and kissed him gently on the cheek. But I didn't pull away. He didn't move much, he seemed more stunned than disgusted. I'd take 'surprised' over 'horrified' any day.

"Good night," I said gently against his cheek. He still didn't move, so I pulled back sharply and stepped out of the toasty car, braving the wind to run up to Charlie's house. The fresh rain coated my face, mercifully hiding the tear that had escaped when Edward had all but rejected me.

I turned back to shut the door, and Edward was gone, leaving behind no traces of himself.

* * *

**Right, I know you're all going to have questions for this chapter, so I'll answer the ones I can think of at the moment.**

**Yes, Edward and Bella were about to kiss before they were interrupted. Edward was running from Carlisle... I'm sure you've figured out why. Edward didn't make a move when Bella kissed him on the cheek because he was both stunned and afraid - but you'll have to wait for a few chapters to find out what he's scared of.**

**So, I guess this was a bittersweet chapter for you lovely readers.**

**And thankyou sooo much for your suggestions for a new summary for this story, I mixed most of them together and came up with this: "AU, OOC, All Human. "Dear Bella, My name is Edward Masen. I'm a student at Port Angeles High." Shopaholic Alice hates smart-ass Jasper, Jacob's a jerk, Bella's taken. Words both break and build relationships – so what will it be? BxE, AxJ". I really wish I could have had a longer one, because there were some bits that I absolutely loved that I didn't want to cut. Silly 255 character rule :-P**

**Review!! Love you all!**

**-Shaps**


	21. Invited

**Hey again everyone! I just have to emphasise my humbled-ness within this story.. almost 470 reviews? Seriously, thank you so so so much. Thia story would have been nothing without you guys to read it.**

**Now, the reviewers:**

**mrsjacobblack91, twilightaddict26, yaaaay, beggingtobebitten, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, Ghosts in the Snow, Bethany Knight, okiegirlforever, LookAfterMyHeart, HarvestEclipse31, booknerd14, books and bojangles, Music ADD, DiscoSarah, laibballfan, FrEvrNvrLasts, x-aly-x, Grillllz, It's Moe, bedwardforever, Intoxicated By His Presence, musicormisery4105, Prince SILAS III, halokat, weirdosaywhatt, Erika Baby, FearLover, Michelle62092, smile for the paparazzi, EAMC620, mari alice.**

**Special Mentions:**

**mrsjacobblack91: Nope, Bella hasn't realised who Edward's uncle/father is. Thanks for the compliment about the summary!**

**twilightaddict26: Heh, loved your review; so full of energy!! I'm so lethargic atm. Woke up at like 11am and still feel tired. What the? Anyway, thanks for your review! They'll kiss soon. Promise. As in... next chapter? How's that?**

**beggingtobebitten: Hahahaha, who _isnt'_ for Edward in a loincloth??**

**Kevin the Cornbread Slice: Lol, don't worry, you'll find out why Edward appears to be an a-hole sometimes in the next chapter. There'll be an Epov. Jacob's gonna remain a bit of a background boy, but he'll be confirmed as a big fat sweetheart by the end of the story. Yeah, I wasn't too happy with the way Edward found about his parents either, but I needed it to be a fair bit of a shock and in such a way that he would want to avoid Carlisle and Esme at all costs. His mother _is_ careless, though.**

**HarvestEclipse31: Lol yeah, you'd think Bella would take it the wrong way... you'll find out her reaction in this chapter though. LOL I love that all the skanky girls are afraid of you, that's spiggin' awesome! And I love that; "...be like Nike and Just Do It!"**

**booknerd14: Lol, I'm sorry that you hate me... maybe by the end of this chapter you wont hate me quite so much?**

**books and bojangles: I love awkwardness too! You're sitting there in (for example) a room with people you've only just met and you can totally tell everyone is thinking the same thing... "One, awkward, two, awkward, three, awkward..." (Maybe that's just me?)  
I CAN'T EVEN EXPRESS THROUGH MILLIONS OF EMOTICONS HOW MUCH OF A 'YES' MY ANSWER IS TO YOUR FANFICTION PROJECT PROPOSAL!!**

**DiscoSarah: Well, I'm glad to be of service!! Lol, everyone hates Mike, it's quite amusing... I love badass Jasper too, yumm... they'll kiss soon! Hold your fire, soldier!!**

**FrEvrNvrLasts: Ahh, I'm sorry, I was worried that the paragraph where Edward does a runner wouldn't make a lot of sense. But it did in my head as I was writing it.**

**x-aly-x: Thankyou! You're like the only one who also believes that it was a bit early for them to be kissing... I mean, I want them to know each other properly first, and you understand it! So good! Lol, Ally's the one vying for a sequal, but I'll see once this one's done.**

**Grillllz: Heh, more Spanish, love it!**

**It's Moe: I'm undecided as to whether I'll include the explanation as to why Edward's (four) parents lied to him, but I think I'll include it otherwise it'll be like leaving a bit hole in an otherwise smooth road... if ya get what I mean.**

**bedwardforever: Sorry again, I wondered whether that bit made proper sense. Edward pulled away because Carlisle was coming down the hall, and since Carlisle is Edward's real father (and Edward's avoiding him like the plague atm) he didn't want to deal with him - let alone be caught smooching in the hallway by him.**

**weirdosaywhatt: I'm from Australia, we have a whole dictionary of our own!! (Joking... or am I?)**

**Erika Baby: AWWW! Thank you a million times over! I can't believe you're learning by reading my amateur stuff... aww... thankyou for your review!**

**smile for the paparazzi: Heyy, while you're making those cookies, maybe you could wing some over here...? Hehe. I would be very impressed if you could throw a cookie to Aus, lol.**

**EAMC620: Shall I take that as confirmation that you would like to see a sequal when this is done...?**

**--**

**Don't forget to check the chapter question at the bottom of this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: Invited**

* * *

--

**_Dear Bella,_**

**_I managed to re-claim the letter I handed in on Friday. It wasn't very interesting anyway, so I hope you don't mind? I even had to get into school early on Monday morning so I would catch the secretary before she went over to Forks to drop them off._**

**_And as for the venting thing, I don't mind at all! Go for it. I know that I probably do it to you too – by the way, thank you so much for listening to me on Friday night. I really appreciate it. And I took you up on your advice; all my closest friends know and they're all being really great about it. Jared's even letting me stay with him for a while 'till I sort my head out._**

**_You definitely had an unlucky night with that car-trouble thing! But at least this Jacob guy was willing to help you, even if he does act like a total jerk at school. I guess you'll have to decide whether you want to be half-friends with him, or not friends at all. Personally, I'd give him a piece of my mind. But hey, it's your life Little Miss Swan._**

**_As for the football thing, Sam does play, but this year I'm not. I thought I should be a good little student and do my school work instead of wrestling with other guys – no matter how much fun it is. I think I'll ask the coach if I can join the team after finals though. I'm not sure what to do with my life these days, so staying around here doesn't sound too bad to me._**

**_You went to the gym? How did you like it? I love going there by myself. It smells better than my bedroom, haha... aren't I hilarious? But seriously, I think I need like an FBI team to come and find whatever it was that died in here. I could have guessed that Emmett would be at the gym – he looks like he swallowed a gym for goodness sake! So does Sam. Geez that guy eats a lot. It's crazy._**

**_So, how did you like the Pen Pal Meet Party? I thought it was pretty good – up until the point where I dragged you through an upside down swimming pool and you nearly caught a cold. But it was nice to half-make it up to you by driving you home. Are you alright now?_**

**_Now, this is the main purpose of my letter: I think I'll let Leah write it because she's insane and will probably stab my hand with her pen if I get it wrong. Over to you, Clearwater!_**

Hey Bella, how are you? Hope your cold's gotten better. We were all worried about you for the rest of the night! It didn't end up being much of a party when you're worried about someone. So that's why I've hijacked Edward's letter. I want to have another night where the lot of us get together, and Alice is in on it too, so good luck escaping! Haha, joking. 

Not really. 

But anyway; we want you guys to come down to Port Angeles and see a movie with us. I promise it won't be scary. Sam's a sissy as well, have you heard? But okay, here are the details: Friday night at Port Angeles cinema. Come around seven-ish. We (as in my whole group, and maybe your whole group) are going to stay at Jared's place for the night. Girls upstairs, boys downstairs. We get the bedroom! Hope you can come, love Leah xo

_**Okay, I think that's it. She just nodded, yes, that's all she's got to say. Please come, I don't want to have to listen to Sam's bitching for a whole night!**_

_**Praying for you to save me,**_

_**Edward Masen**_

**_--_**

_Hey Edward_

_It's Wednesday – therefore I've been tolerating Alice's excited squeals and plans for Angela and I for roughly three days so far. I have another two days to go. Therefore, you'd better make this movie one hell of a night. We'll be there; at about seven. Don't disappoint!_

_Bella xo_

_--_

I sat down beside Alice in gym, hoping like anything that we weren't going to have to do anything physical during today's double. I despised Thursdays for this stupid lesson's occupation of my after-lunch hours. At least Alice was here to share the pain with me. I barely even noticed as Mike sat down in a row at the front, unsmiling and not looking at me even from the corner of his eye. I didn't know what he did with himself socially, because he wasn't sitting with my friends anymore and I hadn't seen him talking to anyone else during lunchtimes.

Alice sniffed beside me, a regular thing because of the weather here in Forks. She wiped her nose with a tissue, but other than that, she looked completely healthy.

I started picking at the stitching on my shirt, silently willing Coach Clapp to come down with some incurable but non-life threatening disease.

"What are we doing today?" I asked Alice, wanting very badly for her to say 'nothing'. It would have worked that way – if I had any luck at all.

"Umm, I don't know, but I saw the coach walking around with a bag of golf balls before lunch. That might be what we're doing?"

I groaned.

My question was answered when Coach Clapp came banging into the room, a large bag of basketballs slung over one shoulder. _Oh_ _please, someone shoot me now._

I looked at Alice with an eyebrow raised. "Golf balls, Alice?"

She shrugged. "We're not the only class he teaches. I dunno."

There was nothing I hated more than balls which were big enough to break my whole face in one go if thrown – or missed – badly enough. I dropped my head down and rested it on Alice's shoulder, faking emotional sobs.

"Get up, fool. I don't think we're playing actual games today."

My head snapped up painfully fast, and I was overjoyed to see Coach Clapp dragging over the noble Whiteboard of Boredom from its recently hibernating place in the storage room. The Coach revealed a whiteboard marker, and started scribbling X's and O's all over the place to represent players on the court.

He droned on for a while about tactics and techniques and team mates and lots of other words starting with 'T'. I glanced down at my watch and was calculating the length of time I had until I could be inside my truck again when the Coach clapped his hands together.

I froze.

Such an enthusiastic move only meant-

"Sort yourselves into teams, kids! We've got time for a few games!" He loosened the string on the bag and let basketballs loose all over the court. Just looking at the potential accidents rolling around the place made me feel slightly ill.

Alice, beside me, looked from my horrified face to the balls and back a few times. Apparently, she was feeling merciful today.

"Stay here. Look sick," she whispered, trotting down the stand to work her magic on a more than easy victim.

I closed my eyes and leaded my head back; glad that the mere visions of basketballs flying toward my incapable hands was enough to make me break out in a light sweat. I hoped it glistened in the gym lights.

Down on the court, I could hear Alice working her magic.

"…feeling quite off lately. I don't know what to do." A pause. "No, no the nurse said she just needs to drink plenty of fluids. Yes. Yes. I will. Okay, no problem. Thanks, Coach."

A moment later she was beside me, digging around in her bag. Then she handed me a water bottle.

"Look weak," she whispered.

"Okay," I whispered back out of the corner of my mouth.

I took the bottle from her and took a sip. It was pleasantly cool, so I took a greater gulp. I opened my eyes fully, and looked down to see what was happening. Most people were just tossing the ball back and forth between themselves, some people shooting baskets while they waited for instruction. Coach Clapp was clumsily bouncing a ball in the middle of the court, trying to get everyone's attention so they would come around and listen to his pep-talk.

I looked at Alice, who'd produced a book and was reading it while she hummed.

"Thanks, Alice." I smiled at her and raised the water bottle in a toast.

"No problem." She grinned in a mischievous way. "I need you in full health for tomorrow night."

I started to feel a little nauseous again.

* * *

**I've just had a thought in relation to the next two chapters; originally the slumber party was going to be split into two because it was so long - but you guys seemed to like the looooong chapter for the Athletics Carnival. So, would you prefer one chapter, or two?**

**And also, I know that this story still has a few chapters to go 'till it's done, but I was wondering if you guys were interested in a sequal to it at all. Let me know what you're thinking!**

**Cheers for reading, as always, can't wait to hear what you're all thinking!**

**-Shaps**


	22. Movie Night

**So overall the response was 'one chapter!', so, that's what I've done :-)**

**And the reviewers are (there's like FIFTY!!) (you guys ROCK LIKE BOULDERS!) (Okay, sorry, that was inexcusably lame):**

**literatefanatic27, Michelle62092, Muff'Nbutter, x-aly-x, jake.n.ash.n.edward, Erika Baby, Jade, EverstarEverlasting, Prince SILAS III, dollegirl, GinnyBrown is here and now, books and bojangles, beggingtobebitten, LookAfterMyHeart, okiegirlforever, AlwaysAround888, Bethany Knight, maryellen, HarvestEclipse31, bedwardforever, Music ADD, edwardsfavouriteflavour, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, laibballfan, EAMC620, CullenLove, secretlycullen1212, yaaaay, jeezlouise16, musicormisery4105, sunybee, jacob is the new black, booknerd14, 143twilighter (x2), Olivia, xLucidx, momma2three, Grillllz, halokat, FrEvrNvrLasts, vampiressuck, franchised., Lilly for Algernon, TwilightPassion, Tefferbee, Intoxicated By His Presence, twiroselight.**

**And for the sake of a slightly shorter chapter (and the fact that I'm almost dying of tiredness) the special mentions won't be as long as usual.**

**Special Mentions:**

**Muff'Nbutter: Hahah! Loved your theory on Edward's parental problems - staplers hold a whole new meaning now.**

**Erika Baby: The Masquerade Ball chapter is... -checks folder-... Chapter 25.**

**books and bojangles: Why yes, it does make me want to cough. Strange, strangeness...**

**Bethany Knight: Bella's letter was very short 'cos she was excited about seeing him at the cinema, plus, anything she wrote in it would have just been repeated when she saw Edward anyway.**

**bedwardforever: Nope, that wasn't a txt, it was just a very short letter.**

**secretlycullen1212: You'll probably have to wait 'till near the end to find out about the moth thing :-)**

**Lilly for Algernon: Well, I'm actually from Adelaide!! We're half way through the second of a three week holiday. I heart holidays! Yay, sleeping in!**

**Tefferbee: Jacob's going to come back into the story soon, and eventually he'll be good to Bella again... but something else has to happen first! (To do with Jasper...)**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two Part One: Slumber Party**

* * *

There was going to be a big group turning up at the Port Angeles cinema tonight; Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Angela, Ben, Tyler, Ally, Jared, Kim, Paul, Leah, Sam, Edward and me. Being the clever girl she is, Alice had thought to ring up beforehand to give the candy stand people some warning as to how much popcorn they were going to have to produce tonight.

So Alice, Ally, Angela and I were sitting in Alice's shiny yellow Porsche, waiting for some sign that we should get out of the car and cross the parking lot to the cinema. Ally had also been caught in Alice's storm of makeovers, but at least she looked good. I reminded myself of an episode of _The Simpson's_ when Homer shoots Marge with a makeup gun – and the setting is on 'whore'.

Okay, maybe I was exaggerating just a _bit_, but to be blatantly truthful, I felt more self-conscious wearing makeup than I did without it. At least without anything on my face I didn't have to worry about whether my eyes were running or if my lip gloss wasn't shiny enough.

And to whine a little bit more; Angela had gotten out of the whole 'let's give you a new face!' _again_; she only had mascara and some eye shadow on this time. Argh. I'm always the victim!

As for my clothes; instead of Alice attacking and completely dressing us, she said she'd give us helpful tips on whatever we chose to wear tonight. I went with jeans, my white Converse ankle high shoes and a button up, long sleeved navy blue t-shirt. I'd thought Alice wouldn't be able to find anything to make me wear, but I was wrong. I had a silver chain around my neck and diamante studs in my ears, and a thin black belt through the loops of my jeans. I didn't see the point to wearing it if it wasn't holding anything up, but Alice wouldn't take no for an answer so I just avoided thinking about it for the ride here.

"Right." Alice's voice cut through the silence, making us all snap back into reality. "Let's go."

She opened her door and stepped out, allowing a breeze to waft into the car. For once, it wasn't that cold outside. I opened my door and stood up, slinging my black beaded bag over my shoulder. It had some money in it, and my mobile. My chapstick was in my pocket and my nerves were bumping against the inside of my stomach. I looked around the parking lot and saw a silver Volvo which looked very familiar. It didn't help my nerves at all.

I followed Alice's lead as she headed over to the automatic doors of the cinema. Inside I could see some little booths and couches and some squashy chairs. Sprawled across two booths were the people we were here to meet. We, as Alice had intended, had arrived last and so everyone was glad to see us whether they liked us or not, because our arrival meant that they could finally go into the movie theatre.

I stepped forward into the warm popcorn flavoured air and looked around at the smiling faces of our friends. Tyler got up straight away and strode over to Ally, who smiled at him as he hugged her tightly. I looked away and saw Alice bounding off to see Leah, and Angela shyly stepped forward to say hello to the single Cheney brother. I went up on my tippy toes to look, but Edward wasn't there. Remembering what had happened at the Pen Pal gathering, I spun around, expecting to catch him before he could sneak up and scare me. But, turning around had been the wrong idea.

"RAWR!"

I screamed, jumped three feet in the air and held my heart as I whipped around to see Edward laughing at my reaction. In front of me.

"You're terrible!" I nearly shouted at him, but I couldn't make my voice sound menacing while I was smiling. I let go of my heart, but found that it still wanted to jump out of my chest – just not from fear.

"But you love me for it," he joked, gently knocking his fist into my jaw.

My heart beat its response to that, but I just rolled my eyes. I didn't think my voice would operate normally with my heart constricting my throat like this.

"I got your ticket for you," he said, holding out a piece of paper.

"Thanks!" I said, honestly grateful that I wouldn't have to worry about dropping my coins everywhere while trying to pay. "How much?" I grabbed my handbag and started to open it, but Edward's hand stopped me. I looked up at him from my half-bent posture.

"Don't worry about it. It's on me."

"No, you shouldn't have to-"

"But I want to."

_Wow. Like a date._

"Um, well, thanks then. Again." I let go of my purse and he let go of my hand a moment later.

"My pleasure."

"Alright everyone, move your butts! Opening credits roll in ten!" Alice called out from the candy bar, Leah behind her with her hand in the gummi bears jar.

Emmett and Sam were the first to the lollies once Alice had made her announcement. They each seized a little candy bag and started piling things into it. Sam didn't seem to think it was large enough, so when the popcorn lady wasn't looking, he reached over the plastic divider and stole two large popcorn buckets. He handed one to Emmett and together they started shovelling their desired snacks into them. Edward laughed from beside me.

"They're going to be so sick tomorrow," he said, still chuckling.

"Yeah, probably." I headed over to the popcorn stand. The smell was getting to me and I had a very big craving for the buttered snacks.

The lady behind the counter stepped forward when I approached. "What would you like?"

"A small, please."

"Make that a medium," Edward said from beside me. The woman ogled at him for a moment before snapping out of it and busying herself in the popcorn buckets.

I turned to Edward, confused. "Edward, I can't eat that much."

"I know," he said, smiling like it was obvious. "_I_ can though."

"But-"

"_And_ I'm paying for it too. I'll probably end up eating the whole thing, you know."

I sighed, thinking that him paying for everything was very one-sided of me. Then, I got inspiration as Jared and Kim walked past with foam cups in their hands.

"Then I get to pay for the drinks."

He grinned in such a beautiful way that my heart started dancing around behind my ribs. "Deal."

Ten minutes later, after Emmett and Sam had stood behind Alice while she explained our situation to the doorman (who had tried to stop us 'late entries' from getting in), the lot of us had crammed ourselves into one row.

Ally and Tyler were 'watching the movie' with more vigour than was strictly necessary – especially since the movie hadn't started yet. Paul was sitting beside Tyler, feeling and looking utterly uncomfortable. Beside him was Ben, and Angela, and both their hands were out of sight from the faint cinema lights, extended in the same direction. They each had silly grins on their faces that no one but me had noticed.

Kim was next to Ange, and she had put her arm rest up so she could lean more comfortably on Jared. He had his arm around her shoulders, and she was holding his hand with both of her own, mindlessly playing with his fingers. They looked like they had been together for so long that everything they did around each other was an unconscious movement.

Edward was next to Jared, and he was hogging the bucket of lollies he'd stolen from Emmett once the lights were too dim to see anything properly. I was looking at him, smiling, but on edge enough that I could look away as soon as it seemed he was about to catch me staring.

Alice and Leah were next to me, talking about something in whispers. Sam was tearing up the edge of his popcorn bucket, obviously nervous. Emmett kept trying to steal Sam's lollies, but he incurred a thump in the leg every time Sam caught him. I knew Emmett was going to complain about the inevitable bruise tomorrow.

The last person in the row was Rosalie, who looked serene in the faint light from the screen. Even her profile was stunning. Emmett, when he wasn't bugging Sam, was content to stare at her face and kiss her lightly whenever she wasn't expecting it. They would look at each other with smiles in their eyes every few minutes.

I tore my gaze from the couple and looked at the screen. The reminder about turning mobiles off was playing, and I remembered with a jump that mine was still on the loud profile. I reached down for my bag and grabbed my phone out; trying to be speedy as I switched settings so the doorman wouldn't see the light of my phone and kick us out.

"Naughty, naughty," Edward whispered as I straightened up. I looked over at him, and could see in the bluish light that he was smiling at me.

I rolled my eyes, knowing he could see it. "Uh huh." I leaned over and stole a handful of confectionery from his horde. "And you're not?"

"Me? No! Never! I'm an angel, in every right." He grinned cheekily and I scoffed at him as quietly as I could.

"You wish," I whispered, leaning in close to him so I wouldn't disturb anyone else in the theatre.

The lights dimmed and we were all in total darkness. A few girls sitting behind us squealed at the change. I didn't move from immediately beside Edward's face, afraid that I'd give myself a concussion in the darkened conditions. The light slowly came back on then, but the only available was that coming from the screen. I could faintly see Edward's outline, and was shockingly aware of him, and how close he was.

But then I moved back sharply, hoping like anything that he didn't realise what I was thinking.

For a long time after that, nothing changed. I tried to be subtle about my sideways glances, but was doing terribly at it. Edward would catch me almost every time, but he just smiled when he did.

We were up to the part where the main character was running from some invisible force when I heard one of the girls along our row squeal in fright. I looked over to see who it was, expecting to see Alice or Rose or Leah with their fist in their mouth or hand over eyes. But what I saw reminded me of Edward's letter, and how Sam didn't handle scary movies well.

I tried not to laugh as I looked at the burly boy. He had his hand clamped over his mouth and was leaning back in his chair, eyes wide and clearly frightened. Beside me, Edward wasn't so subtle about his amusement.

"Keep your daks dry, Sam," Edward warned seriously once he was done chuckling. "I don't want my car smelling like pee."

Alice shot Edward a venomous look, and he immediately leant back in his chair, removing himself from the situation.

"I'll go with him," Alice said as Sam stood and started battling to get over Emmett's legs.

"Are you sure?" Leah offered, half-standing. "He can be a bit of a handful."

"No problems," Alice reassured her.

I turned to Edward. "Why do you guys go to scary movies if Sam hates them?"

"It's the best part of the movie," Edward grinned mischievously at me. "Besides, he's not that hard to watch when he's being a baby anyway."

However, no more than two minutes later, Alice came bounding back into the cinema, almost invisible for the black jeans and jacket she was wearing.

"Leah!" she hissed from the end of the row. "He's too whiney. And he's taking forever! Wanna swap?"

Leah rolled her eyes and looked at Alice like she must be joking. "Oh, man… they were just getting to the bit where everything gets explained!"

"I promise I'll buy you the DVD when it comes out!" Alice hissed. "Hurry up! He'll be out soon!"

"Geez Alice, you owe me one, girly." Leah got up and slapped Emmett's knees out of the way, gracefully jumping over Rosalie's long legs on her way out. She plodded down the theatre stairs and was gone by the time Alice had regained her seat.

Alice sat down and claimed Sam's lolly bucket, much to Emmett's dismay.

"I wanted that!" he pleaded with Alice.

She shrugged. "You snooze, you lose."

We all walked out of the cinema, talking about the best and worst parts of the movie. I wasn't really noticing what anyone else was doing, because Edward had given me his jacket and I was on Cloud Nine.

Jared cleared his throat and jumped on a park bench to address all of us. I turned to him, Edward still at my side.

"Now, I know the original plan was to stay at my place tonight, but I don't think we're going to have enough room. So, my buddy here, Edward, offered to have everyone around to his huge ass place. Oh, and just to be loud and annoying, Edward made up with his Aunt and Uncle after their argument and he moved back in. Applause, if you wouldn't mind!" Jared hopped down and started clapping, saying "jolly good man, jolly good" while we all laughed and settled back into our other conversations.

I held the collar of Edward's jacket and inhaled as subtly as I could, trying to work out why it was so familiar. Edward cleared his throat and I turned to him to show I was listening.

"Bella…" He kicked a loose stone as we crossed the pedestrian crossing and entered the parking lot. "Would you mind riding with me back to my house?"

I was a little shocked, and hesitated in saying the only answer I would ever consider for such a question. Edward took it the wrong way.

"Of course, you don't have to. Sorry. I shouldn't have asked; it's just a bit lonely in my car."

"I'd love to," I said, blurting the words before I could edit them.

Fortunately, he didn't mind. He grinned beautifully, almost making my heart faint from loveliness. "Cool."

"Alice," I called, looking for the camouflaged girl. "I'm going with Edward."

"Why?" she yelled back from some twenty feet in front of me.

I shrugged and hoped she saw it. She _did _see it, but she seemed determined to embarrass me. She skipped over and was standing in front of Edward and me a second later, cutting off our path.

"Do you guys love each other? Do you? It's okay if you do. I love you _both_!"

My cheeks were burning, and I cursed the day Angela let her watch The Notebook. Argh. I was surprised Edward wasn't removing his offer right now. He was actually _smiling_.

"That's a good movie, Alice. Nice to know you appreciate the classics."

Alice nodded and bounded off in the direction of her car where Angela was standing, shivering. Edward noticed, too.

"Are _you_ cold?" he asked me.

I was, but I had Edward's coat already. I suddenly felt bad for being the reason he was probably cold.

I realised that _he_ was probably freezing without second layer of clothing. "Sorry," I said, removing the jacket from my shoulders and holding it out to him. I immediately sneezed when the cold air touched my neck.

"Put it back on!" Edward laughed, pushing the jacket away from himself. He then put his arm around my shoulders. What he didn't know, though, was that just his presence made me feel much warmer, especially in my cheeks and in my heart.

A minute later, I was in Edward's car - the Volvo I'd seen in the parking lot. It smelled faintly of leather, but mostly of Edward himself. It was a better scent than any air freshener in the world.

"So," he said as he checked his mirrors and clicked his belt into place. "How did you like the movie?"

I thought for a moment, watching the cars containing our friends pull out of the parking lot ahead of us. But then I made the mistake of looking at him before I answered; his dark honey eyes were smouldering at me. "I don't know, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the screen."

If I were a more dramatic person, I would have immediately slapped my hand to my head. But I wasn't, and thought I wished there was a hole in the car floor for me to disappear into, that didn't exist either.

Edward didn't seem embarrassed at all... other than the slight flush I saw in his cheeks before he pretended to look over his shoulder at his blind spot.

"How did _you_ like it?" I asked, trying to regain some dignity.

He grinned devilishly. "I don't know, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the screen." His grin widened slightly.

Once we were on the highway which lead from Port Angeles to Forks, both Edward and I had become silent. It wasn't awkward. I knew he was lost in his thoughts... and I was trying desperately to go back in time and _not_ say that response to his 'did you like the movie' question. He turned off to the right then, and a few minutes later we were weaving through the countryside. From what I could see of the high-topped hills and proud forest, I knew we were in the wealthier part of Port Angeles' suburban area.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked yet," Edward mused in the darkness.

I'd have expected myself to jump at such a break to the silence, but stupidly, I instead regretted that his sentence wasn't longer.

"Asked what?"

"About my parents." He looked at me across the cabin, effortlessly negotiating the twists in the road like he could do it in his sleep.

"Oh." In truth, I _had_ been curious as to how things had amended so quickly. And why he'd been lied to in the first place. "I won't ask you," I said carefully, "if you don't want to be asked. But if you want to tell me, I'll listen."

He smiled while still looking ahead. "That's probably the best answer any of my friends have come up with."

"Thanks...?"

He chuckled. "It's complicated, but... basically I forgave them because I worked out that they've been better parents than Elizabeth or my Dad... well, my Uncle, have ever been."

I smiled. "That doesn't sound so complex."

"You haven't heard the whole story, yet," he reminded me. I folded my hands and pressed my lips together for a moment.

"Tell me the tale then, Edward." I tried to use a mock fortune-teller voice to lighten the mood.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure how things went because this is just Esme and Carl's side of the story, but Esme was only sixteen when she had me, and Carl was twenty. Her parents made her give me to her newly-married sister to care for until she was settled - but Esme said that she could have taken care of me if she was allowed. My grandmother just didn't like the idea of people thinking of our family as the ones with a bastard child.

"But then Elizabeth and her husband split and Esme wanted me back, but by then I already thought Elizabeth was my mother, so every time she came to get me I would cry when I heard them fighting. I don't remember this though. And when Esme and Carl were first telling me what happened a week ago, I started getting angry because I thought Esme hadn't been fighting hard enough for me. But now I know she was just trying to give me the best home possible.

"Esme wanted me to call Elizabeth 'Aunty' and call her 'Mum', but again, I was too old and my habits were already established. Carlisle wasn't happy about any of this, but there wasn't a lot he could do. Of course he wanted his son back, but he also knew it would cost me a fair bit in the emotional department to do so. Eventually they decided to wait until I was eighteen to tell me, and for me to visit Esme and Carl as often as possible during breaks."

I was silent for a moment. "Wow." It seemed inadequate for the situation.

"Yeah." He looked at me across the space. "Sounds like a script out of 'Days Of Our Lives', doesn't it?"

_At least he's comfortable enough to make jokes._

"Eighteen seems a bit late to leave it, don't you think?" I watched him carefully as I asked to see if I was approaching the uncrossable line. But his face remained calm.

"That's what I thought. I think they all just wanted to put it off for as long as possible."

I didn't say anything. I was so caught up in Edward's world, the pictures that had formed in my mind were flying through my head at the speed of light. But then the car turned to the left - I only felt it very slightly, Edward was a very good driver - and we headed up the driveway to a lovely old Victorian house.

Everyone else was already there, waddling up to the steps of the house with bags in their hands. I noticed with an internal 'awww' that Emmett was carrying both his and Rosalie's bags. She was protesting by the looks of it, trying very hard to get something to carry for herself, but then Emmett managed to throw her over his shoulder and he walked into the house with every bit of luggage on him. He was laughing along with Rosalie.

"Home sweet home," Edward said with a wink as we pulled into his too-long-to-count garage.

I grinned at him and unbucked my seat belt as the engine cut off. "Thanks for the lift." I paused. "And thanks for trusting me."

"My pleasure."

--

**(A/N: 'jelly' in Australia is 'jello' in America.)**

I couldn't believe it. I was standing in Edward Masen's bedroom… along with six other girls, but never mind that.

Leah and Kim had managed to kick the guys out of the upstairs area altogether. It was quite an achievement. So now Ally, Ange, Kim, Alice, Leah, Rosalie and I were floating around Edward's room, picking up things that weren't ours and opening drawers that contained things Edward probably didn't want us to find.

There was knock.

"You'd better not be going through my stuff, you lot!" Edward's threatening voice came through the locked door.

"We're not," we all chorused together, then erupted in giggles as Alice ran around the room, waving a pair of boxers over her head.

There was a pause on Edward's side of the door. "Put them down, Alice," he said calmly, but I could hear the fury in his lovely voice.

Alice squealed. "How did you know that?!"

"I know all," he said in a mock mystical voice. "Get outa there, I need a shower. Emmett dunked jelly on my head when he worked out what happened to his bucket of lollies."

"Serves you right!" Kim yelled. "He wouldn't shut up on the way back here about those stupid things!"

"Yeah, well, whatever. Let me in!"

Everyone else giggled and ran to his bed, piling on top of the golden cover. I went over to the door and opened it for him, stepping back quickly as he barrelled through to his en-suite bathroom.

I only caught a glimpse of him, but it was enough to make me laugh.

His bronze hair was streaked with dried jelly crystals and matted balls of what looked like marshmallows, or gum. The top of his shirt was streaked with the red colouring, and it'd crusted itself onto him in a way that didn't look like it was going to come out very easily. Everyone else in the room laughed long and hard, and then squealed when the sound of the shower water came on.

Alice ran up to me and whispered in my ear so no one else could hear. "Do you realise Edward is naked with nothing more than a flimsy wall between the two of you?"

"Thanks Alice, way to give me something _calming_ to think about."

She laughed and ran off again, digging through Edward's bed side table now.

"He certainly does have different tastes to regular teenaged boys." She held something up, and I recognised it immediately. The photo from my locker was held between her thumb and index finger like it was infected. I only knew what it was because it was so covered in dust. I leapt over the bed in an impressively fluid motion and landed on my own two feet in front of Alice. I snatched the photo from her, wiped the dust away, and wondered why the hell Edward would want a photo of me and a certain pixie.

It had been taken on my most recent birthday. It was Alice's gift to me; a free professional photography session. Her cousin or something was in the business, so she got it all done for free. That way I couldn't feel guilty about her spending money on me, and so I couldn't refuse it.

Alice and I were in a garden somewhere in Seattle, arms draped over each other's shoulders and laughing at a joke I could never remember when I tried to tell people about my seventeenth birthday. It was a good photo of us, un-photo shopped at Alice's request, yet we both looked as good as we ever have.

I sat on the bed and stared at the photo for a long while, wondering how Edward had gotten this – and _why?_ Then, Leah squealed at something over on Edward's dresser, which was by the door. I jumped up and ran over to see what she was looking at. It was a photo album, filled with pictures of toddler Edward. She turned the page and there were pictures of him a little older, as was with the next page. But the page following that contained pictures of a new child, who looked very familiar…

"Kim!" Leah called over her shoulder without looking away from the innocent boys. "Come here!"

Kim rushed over and I stepped aside so she could see the photos of Jared when he was a little kid, throwing toys around with Edward and playing golf with a set of plastic clubs. Kim stared at them, her eyes sparkling, and I knew that no matter how old or young Jared was in a photo, she would love it to bits.

We were all cooing over the pictures, the ages of their occupants getting older with every turn of the page, so no one heard the bathroom door open. No one noticed Edward sneak up behind us until he leant forward and said in the space between my head and Kim's; "What are you doing?"

Kim shrieked and spun around, coming face to face with Edward's deliciously muscular chest. She took a step back and frowned up at Edward's face. As soon as I noticed he was wearing only a towel, I tried to stop staring - but couldn't do it. It was like trying to not shiver when you're cold.

Leah turned around and came close to hitting her cousin as she did so. Her head reflexively pulled back, and she looked up at him in all his messy haired glory, suddenly snapping at him. "Geez Edward, put a shirt on. You'll take someone's eye out with those things." Her head height, like Kim, was also at his glorious chest. And pecks. Then she pushed him away and stepped around to spit her gum in the bin.

"I need some clothing. Alice, what'd you do with my boxers?" He looked around for the black haired girl but couldn't see her until she jumped up with a lollipop in her mouth; and Edward's boxers on her head. "Real nice, Alice," he said, snatching them from her smiling little face.

Then he turned and grinned at me before heading out the door, closing it behind him.

Leah bent down and picked up something from the rubbish bin. "What the hell?" she said, holding a drink container in her hand. I recognised it from somewhere, but couldn't put my finger on it until Alice said, "A pop-top?"

It was a drink bottle, a pop-top, and it had come from the Athletics Day canteen. I'd given it to Edward to throw out or something at the grounds, but apparently, that's not where it'd ended up. I was about to say so but caught the breath in my throat, thinking that that would only end up in an awkward place of conversation.

--

It was nearly time for all of us to go to bed. Edward's mum, who had Edward's smiling eyes, had served us a roast with potatoes and carrots and peas and lots of other yummy things I wished I had enough time to make.

I was now in Edward's bathroom with Leah, brushing my teeth while she stood at the sink and washed her face. She towelled the water off, then reached over to the door and closed it. I was baffled. _What is she doing?_ I stopped brushing my teeth, but she went back to lacing her toothbrush with toothpaste so I assumed she just didn't like people seeing her brush her teeth or something.

I took a step to the sink, and rinsed my mouth out. I turned to the door and tried to open it, but my first thoughts had been on the right track. It was locked. I didn't know how to open it.

"Leah?" I asked, looking at her. She was just rinsing the foam from her mouth.

"We need to talk," she said, waving her hand for me to choose somewhere to sit down. I leant against the sink beside her, not wanting to be at a height disadvantage.

"What's up?" I said, trying to sound casual.

She cleared her throat and folded her arms, thinking of how to phrase her words. "I think you've probably noticed that my cousin is a really good guy." She waited for a response.

"Yeah, he is. And I love being friends with him."

"Is that all it is? Friends?"

I was a bit baffled as to why this was her concern. "I don't mean to be rude, Leah, but why are you worried about me being friends with Edward?"

She looked down, and I knew from her change in stance and expression that this was the part she didn't want anyone else to hear.

"Edward had a girlfriend for just less than two years. She died in a car accident around ten months ago. That's the real reason he moved here. It's nothing to do with his mum – well, apparently not his 'mum', but anyway – nothing to do with her business arrangements. The thing I want you to understand is; Edward is not like other guys. He went into somewhere very dark after she died. He loved her very much. It's not something he handled well.

"But then, once I convinced Paul to bet him fifty dollars that he couldn't get a reply from someone in this pen pal thing, Edward became happier. He came almost all the way out of his hole because of _you_." She looked at me completely, trying to convey her vitally important message without any kind of misunderstanding. "You are very important to him, friend or not. Don't hurt him. Please, don't hurt him."

_So that was why he wouldn't tell me about his ex when I asked him on the bus._

My throat was caught. I couldn't speak, and the level of emotion in Leah's voice couldn't be matched. I chose to whisper my reply; it was harder for my voice to crack if I whispered. "I won't."

--.--.--

**Chapter Twenty-Two Part Two: Caught**

_-Edward's Point Of View-_

I left my bedroom and walked down the hall, one hand holding up the towel around my middle and the other tensed, prepared to fight off Sam or Jared if they decided towel abduction would be a funny idea. Fortunately for them and their pretty little faces I made it to my _parents'_ room- it was still weird to think of them that way – without any problems. I flicked on the light and pulled my boxers on under the towel, wary of my friends and their habits of biding their time when it came to practical jokes.

Emmett was, apparently, very good at doing that. He was being perfectly nice to me all night until his offer to get me a drink ended with a bowl of red jelly on my head.

I dropped the towel in the laundry basket of their en suite and crossed the room to Carl's chest of drawers. I pulled out a pair of his track pants and an old Ivy League shirt, pulled them both on, then reached into another drawer for a warm pullover. My thoughts wandered briefly to whether my jacket was going to smell like Bella now, but pushed them away before any related memories could appear.

Being careful as to not disturb anything, I went back to the hall and down the stairs, rounded the corner into the lounge area and dropped myself like a sack of potatoes onto the couch. Someone threw a pillow at me before I'd settled myself, and I pulled it off my face to see Paul grinning from ear to ear at me.

"You just sat on a little sauce packet, idiot," he said, laughing at me.

I groaned and shifted to find the inevitable little plastic lump which would by now have stained Esme's white leather couch. But my searching hand found nothing, and when I looked questioningly at Paul he laughed even harder.

"Fooled ya!" he laughed. I threw the pillow at him and reached for the remote.

I was scanning through the French channels I used for school when the rest of the guys came back from the kitchen, their arms laden with the spoils Esme had baked or bought. Tyler and Ben wrestled each other for the bean bag in front of the television, Jared and Sam sat down on the other couch and Emmett sat beside me. After a minute or so, Tyler won the fight for the beanbag and Ben happily jumped off, catching the second beanbag that Sam threw at him.

"Your mum is a legend, Edward," Emmett said from beside me, shoving two muffins into his mouth in one go.

It was an innocent mistake, but now, it didn't upset me. I saw Sam, Paul and Jared stiffen out the corner of my eye, and was thankful that they were observant friends.

I laughed and saw them all relax. "Yeah, she is pretty great."

Emmett continued to chew, unperturbed by the awkwardness.

We all sat in silence for a while, Sam and Jared throwing skittles across the room at me to try and get them in my mouth. Ben had a go from down on the beanbag and ended up being the only person to succeed. After a while Jared got bored with aiming and contented himself with simply throwing them at me.

Eventually, the late news came across the TV and Tyler yawned, setting off a domino reaction in each of us. I was glad that these pants were fairly loose; they were going to be easier to sleep in.

"Where are we sleeping?" Ben asked. I remembered the mattresses and stood up.

"I'll get something for you." I turned to Emmett. "Do you want to give me a hand?"

"Okay," he said, jumping up and showering Tyler with crumbs. Sam stood up too.

"Thanks," I said to him. With three of us getting the blow up mattresses, we were going to be done in one trip. "Back in a minute," I said to the remaining men, who were all scrabbling around on the floor for skittles to use as ammo in a newly waged food fight.

I lead Sam and Emmett out to the storage room which was partially built under the stairs. The door was under the stairs, at least. Emmett was fascinated by it; the endless piles of junk, unfinished projects, old school books and boxes of memories. I saw a fallen broom and stood it up, leaning it against plastic-covered canvases that we'd never quite gotten around to using.

I followed a well known path to the far wall and grabbed a couple of mattresses from against it. I walked back and handed them to Emmett.

"Isn't it bad to leave these things blown up?" he asked, shifting the mattresses so he had a better hold on the two I'd handed him.

"Yeah," I said, turning back to pick up another two. I handed them to Sam. "But these are some I prepared earlier."

Emmett laughed, and I smiled. Sam rolled his eyes, having heard the joke too many times to find it funny any more.

I walked back and picked up the last two mattresses, then avoided all obstacles and went through the storage room door, flicking the light switch and clicking the door shut behind me.

Back in the lounge, the guys were setting themselves up on whichever mattress they'd been thrown. I laughed when I saw that Emmett had put his on top of a couch and was intending to sleep there. Sam had thrown both of his to the Cheney brothers, so I handed my second one to him. I put mine at the foot of the couch but pulled it a little way away in case Emmett rolled too far over during the night.

Sam and Jared set theirs up beside me, and Tyler and Ben put theirs over by the other couch. I was surprised to see that we still had plenty of walking room between our blow-up rectangles.

Soon, the sugar each of us had consumed made it impossible for sleep. We did the noble thing and played a game of Truth or Dare.

It was currently Tyler's turn to be Truthed or Dared.

"Truth," he said.

"Sissy," whispered Ben from beside him. Tyler promptly threw his elbow into Ben's ribs, but Ben dodged it and rolled off his mattress, laughing.

"Okay," Emmett said, his mind calculating a good Truth question. "Have you ever fantasised about our English teacher, Miss Faulkner?"

Tyler didn't even have to answer. His face flamed red and he squeaked out a "No!" before we all burst out laughing. I vaguely remembered a teacher named Faulkner from the Athletics Day bus trip, and if she was anything like I remembered, Tyler should have shouted praises of his fantasies for her.

"Shut up," Tyler said, regaining his macho stance. "Okay, my turn to ask someone…"

He looked around the circle, and in a typical decision, picked on his brother.

"Ben. Truth or Dare?"

Ben wriggled uncomfortably, knowing that whatever he chose was going to land him in an awkward situation. He seemed to decide that Dare was too risky …

"Truth."

"Okay. Umm…" Tyler looked around the room, trying to come up with some kind of evil question. "If you had to choose a guy from in this room to date, who would it be?"

"Ugh, Tyler, that's gross!" Ben stuck his tongue out and scrunched up his face, disgusted.

"That's the game," Tyler returned smugly.

Ben frowned. He shoved Tyler off his beanbag, so while Tyler couldn't see what he was doing, Ben caught my eye and asked me without words if it was okay if he said my name. I nodded subtly, hoping that he'd help me out if I needed it.

"Dork," Tyler muttered, righting himself. "Now. Answer the question."

Ben took a breath. "Edward," he said, throwing me a very apologetic look.

Tyler broke out into hyena type laughs. I laughed too, as did everyone else in the circle, but we were laughing at Tyler, not Ben. Tyler eventually wiped a tear from his eye and sat back on his beanbag.

"Okay, go Ben."

Ben looked around the circle at everyone, and picked on Emmett.

"Truth or Dare?"

Emmett didn't hesitate. "Dare! And make it a good one!"

I knew Ben was too nice to think of something nasty, so I waited in silence with everyone else while Emmett bounced in his seat the way Alice does when she's excited. After a minute or so, Ben spoke.

"I dare you to go into the kitchen, get a jar of honey, and pour it on Rosalie."

Emmett nearly fell off his chair. "Really?" He sounded excited rather than horrified.

Ben was shocked at his reaction, too. "Um, yeah. Now."

"Okay!" Emmett flew out of the room and returned a second later with the honey in his hands.

"How'd you know where that was?" I asked him, a little annoyed that he'd found it so easily when it usually took me more than five minutes to locate the stupid jar – and I lived here!

"Esme left it out."

"Oh."

Emmett headed for the stairs. "Let's get started!"

We all jumped up and followed him from the room. He took the stairs two at a time, crazy-excited. He didn't even knock. All I saw of the girls were the shocked looks on their faces before the door swung shut behind Emmett, Rosalie slung over one shoulder.

"Whazzat?" she said sleepily, raising her head slightly. Once she'd seen us staring at her as Emmett carried her down the hall, she started banging her fists on Emmett's back. "Put me down, you idiot, you'll break my neck!"

"Not yet," he said mischievously, and Rose's protests stopped for a short second before she furiously beat her hands into his spine, screaming profanities at him.

Then Emmett went into the guest room, and we all ran to the door, but it was locked.

"What are you doing?!" Sam yelled through the door. "We wanted to see you get it in her hair!"

Silence on the other side of the door, then Emmett laughed a booming laugh. "You never specified _where_ to get it on her!"

I looked at Sam with the same horrified look he had on his face. We both turned away and walked toward the stairs, defeated and slightly disturbed.

"Lucky bugger," Paul muttered from behind us. "Wait!" he shouted. "Emmett," he called at the closed door.

"What?"

"Who's next?"

Emmett was silent while he thought. "Edward!" he said suddenly, and I felt my stomach twist into a knot. "Truth, or Dare?"

"You suck, Emmett." I paused and thought. "Dare," I shouted, feeling adventurous.

Emmett laughed evilly and I heard some whispering behind the door. "Good idea," he said quietly to Rosalie. "Edward, I dare you to take off your shirt and go kiss Bella."

Ha. If he could find loopholes, so could I. "Fine!"

I yanked off my jumper and t-shirt, then walked over to the girl's door. Behind Emmett's door, Rosalie started giggling furiously. I tried very hard to block out the disturbing images in my head as I raised my hand and knocked twice.

Leah opened it. "Edward?" She looked sleepy. "I told you to put a shirt on!"

"Sorry, Leah. I won't be like this for long. Can I have Bella for a minute, please?" I looked over her shoulder to Bella, who'd just jumped up and was walking over.

"What's up?" she said, eyeing me suspiciously. "What happened to your shirt?"

"Emmett happened to my shirt."

She grinned at me, seeing double meaning to my words.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," I said, smiling. "Would you mind coming into another room for a minute?"

She seemed thoroughly confused. She looked uncertainly over her shoulder to Alice, who was nodding vigorously and motioning with her hands for Bella to go with me. I smiled and waved at Alice, who waved back.

"I guess so," she said. I took her hand and headed for the door three doors down from Emmett's. Rosalie's giggling was a little off-putting. My nerves were taking a hammering.

_What if she thinks I'm horrible? Or sleazy? Or she screams and runs for her life?_

As we passed Emmett's door, I heard him yell out my name.

"What?" I called back, hoping he was going to take back his dare and I would be able to put my shirt on again. I was starting to feel chilly.

"Make it a proper one! No scared-little-freshman business." Emmett called out. Rose giggled. I walked faster.

Finally, I pulled Bella into the room and slammed the door in my friend's faces, shouting "LOOPHOLE!" as I did so. I turned to Bella, who was now beyond confused.

"Uh," I said, wondering if I should just go for it or ask her permission or explain the situation. I hoped that if I told her what was going on she wouldn't hit me. "I got dared to kiss you, with my shirt off. Is that okay?"

She was completely silent, staring at me like she was made of glass, or wax.

"Bella?" I said, waving my hand across her vision.

She shook her head and blinked a few times. "Sorry. Dunno what happened." She put a hand to her head. "You're supposed to kiss me?" she asked doubtfully, sounding like she thought – or hoped – she'd heard wrong.

My stomach twisted into another uncomfortable knot.

"Yes."

"On the cheek?" She moved her hand to her cheek.

I got a better idea – I loved loopholes. Plus, I didn't want to put her in an awkward situation where she had to kiss someone she didn't like. Though, I wouldn't mind kissing her… lately those lips had plagued my dreams.

"Or on the hand, if you'd prefer." I lifted her hand from her cheek and kissed her palm. "There. No pain."

But she _looked_ in pain. I ducked to see her eyes, because she'd averted her face downwards, away from me.

"Bella? What's wrong?" I tried to lift her chin but she pushed my hand away.

"I've got to go." She turned and dashed for the exit, covering her eyes with her hand. I was sure I heard a sob as she pushed through the eagerly awaiting boys on the other side of the door.

Paul piped up first, once the sound of my bedroom door slamming was heard. "You know Edward, if you did it right, she shouldn't be crying."

"Shut it." My words were a little sharper than I'd intended, but Paul didn't seem to take offence so I didn't bother apologising.

I turned for the stairs, Paul acting like a child and stepping on my heels as he followed me. Jared came up beside me.

"You alright?" he said, concerned.

"I'm okay." It wasn't a lie … not for what he was asking, anyway. _I_ was okay, but _Bella_ wasn't…

"Paul! Quit it!" I snapped as the heel of my sock slipped down.

Jared turned and caught him in a headlock, and didn't release him 'till we were downstairs and wrapped in sleeping bags and blankets again.

"Your turn," Ben said. I noticed he'd been rather quiet since it was his turn. "Who's it gonna be?"

I looked around, and Sam was unfortunate enough to draw attention to himself by sneezing at that moment.

"Sam," I said. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

"'Atta boy, Sam!" Jared congratulated, slapping him heartily on the back.

I thought for a moment, trying to think of something Sam might enjoy. "I dare you to… go upstairs, knock on the girls' door, and pash whoever answers it."

There was a deathly silence around the circle. We all knew that if the wrong person answered that door, Sam was going to receive a black eye. Sam must have known this too, but he hid it very well as he rose to his feet and strode toward the stairs. The rest of us stared at each other for a moment, but were scrambling to be free of our warm blankets half a second later, chasing him to see if he would really do it.

Soon, we were all crowded around the corner of the stairs, watching with our breath held in our chests as Sam approached the door. He raised a fist, and knocked. There was a loud squabble, then the door handle was turned, and a familiar voice told everyone else to quieten down while she checked what they – us – wanted.

I tried to see where Bella was, but Alice, Angela and Bella were all missing. The light to the bathroom was on, though. Girls were weird like that; they always wanted company when going to the bathroom.

Sam saw who had opened the door, and was relieved at least to see he wasn't going to have to pash one of his friends' girlfriends. He pulled Leah toward him, and for some odd reason, she didn't protest. He put a hand gently on the back of her neck and kissed her, making it into a really long pash rather than what a regular Dare would have required. I knew something was up when Leah's hands twined themselves around Sam's neck, and she drew herself a little closer to him.

Jared whistled, low and long. Sam broke away from Leah, somewhat reluctantly, and looked back at us, smiling. Leah continued to stare at Sam.

"What's going on? Did you tell them?"

Sam froze and looked like he very much wanted to swear. Leah started playing with his hair in her hand.

"No," he said. "It was a dare, as in Truth or Dare."

"Oh." She could tell she'd just put her foot in it. "Then they didn't know."

"No. But I guess they will now."

* * *

**Well!! What do you think? Do things make a bit more sense now? ...this was why I wasn't taking a stance on the Leah/Jacob suggestions :-)**

**Review!!**

**-Shaps**


	23. Morning After

**So, yeah. You guys are incredible and stuff. I was also thinking... would you mind if there was a lemon or two in this story?**

**And the reviewers are!!**

**Screams-At-Midnight, mrsjacobblack91, pierce.me.through.with.sadness, All.The.RageR, Bethany Knight, Ghosts in the Snow, jake.n.ash.n.edward, okiegirlforever, edwardsfavouriteflavour, maryellen, LookAfterMyHeart, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, IrisOfTheRainbow (x14), BellaAtHeartt (x2), booknerd14, Marshi, FrEvrNvrLasts, sweet333249, sunybee, FearLover, jacob is the new black, Teffernee, AlwaysAround888, CullenLove, books and bojangles, allpresent, HarvestEclipse31, musicormisery4105, Intoxicated By His Presence, laibballfan, bedwardforever, GinnyBrown is here and now, twilightaddict26, Michelle62092, edwardluva234, Bleaktwilight, EC4me, Grillllz, LivforLove, dollegirl, 143twilighter, smile for the paparazzi, It's Moe, TwilightPassion, nixxyadiction, Muff'Nbutter, Music ADD, x-aly-x.**

**Special Mentions:**

**mrsjacobblack91: Jelly!! Yumm. I love it with ice cream :-)**

**pierce.me.through.with.sadness: Nope, no Emily in this story. But good guess!**

**jake.n.ash.n.edward: Yeh, she cried both because of Edward and because she felt guilty about his ex.**

**LookAfterMyHeart: Nope, no Emily in this story :-)**

**BellaAtHeartt: Bella was crying for many reasons - but they'll be explained in this chapter so I won't spoil it for you ;-) Leah and Sam are an item now, yes.**

**Marshi: Oh, no I don't hate Jacob - I'm actually sitting on the fence with the whole Team Edward and Team Jacob business. I love Jacob, hes a sweetie, but I decided to whip things around a bit and make him a sexy bad boy ;-)**

**IrisOfTheRainbow: No, the masquerade isn't a prank - though I considered the idea to start with. But then I decided it would be fun to write it, so the prank part held off.**

**FearLover: Yep, Sam and Leah lurve each other!**

**jacob is the new black: Bella was crying for many reasons - but they'll be explained in this chapter so I won't spoil it for you ;-) As for the mattress joke - you know when there's a chef on TV making something, but then instead of waiting for it to cook they whip out one they made before the show, and say, "Here's one I prepared earlier"? Yeah... it was kinda meant to relate to that. :-P**

**AlwaysAround888: Nope, no Emily to come between the lovers!**

**CullenLove: Lol, I like your craziness about the whole drink in the bin thing - but to be fair, maybe he just forgot it was in there and chucked it in the bin when he realised? Dunno. It _is_ Edward The Crazy! ;-)**

**books and bojangles: Hahahaha, bathtubs, that's awesome! I'll have to try that next time I go to a friend's house :-)**

**HarvestEclipse31: Yeah, I agree about the dragging Bella off into loneliness just to disappoint her - but he did it for a few reasons. He actually _was_ gonna kiss her - but chickened out at the last second. Plus, if he was gonna get rejected, he probably didn't want his friends to see it, and if he wasn't going to get rejected, Bella probably would have felt uncomfortable with them watching. I know I would. Edward's a gentleman in that way, I guess, sometimes annoyingly so!**

**bedwardforever: I'm not sure when they'll have the "I like you...", "I like you too!" conversation. It'll definitely happen though!**

**LivforLove: What joke were you referring to? If it was the mattress one, read the review reply above this one... if not, let me know and I'll try n explain my lameness lol**

**dollegirl: Lol, it's good to hear I'm not slaughtering this story line! And drama? Bring it on lol!**

**143twilighter: Heh, I can totally picture Alice with the boxers on her head, can't you? Yep, the only singles are Alice, Bella, Edward and Paul. Of course. But Ben and Angela aren't official... yet.**

**smile for the paparazzi: Bella was crying for many reasons - but they'll be explained in this chapter so I won't spoil it for you ;-) And no, Bella's not Edward's rebound at all, I'm not that mean lol. Edward pretty much already loves Bella as much as he loved his ex - even though he feels quite guilty for it.**

**TwilightPassion: Tempting suggestion... but another round of Truth or Dare would have exhausted my little brain I think lol**

**Muss'Nbutter: Nope, no Emily to disrupt the cute little Sam and Leah lol**

**--**

**As always, sorry if this chapter it dodgy. Hope you all like it! Any questions - ask in a review :-)**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Morning After**

* * *

So, Leah and Sam had been dating for a while. Alice knew, but other than the two secretive lovers, she was the only one. Leah hadn't even _told_ her but once she'd seen the photos Leah had sent her, she knew. She had apparently asked, "So, how long have you and Sam been dating for?" in her follow-up letter.

When everyone had found out, there were wolf-whistles, squeals, hugs, more kisses and many manly arm-punches being thrown around. Eventually, someone had managed to control the smile on their face to ask for details.

"So, how long?" Kim asked, giving Leah a light thump on the arm.

Leah blushed and looked at her shoes. Sam's arm was wrapped warmly around her shoulder.

"A while" was all she said in reply.

Paul was much blunter with his question.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" he said, an eyebrow rising into his hairline.

Kim interrupted. "Yeah, Leah," she feigned anger. "Why didn't you tell you bestest buddy about your sordid affair?"

Leah laughed and looked up at Sam, who hadn't said a lot so far, but the pink tinge in his cheeks gave away his underlying guilt.

"Well," Leah said carefully. "My cousin has the biggest crush on Sam. She has for a long, long time. And I didn't want to offend her, so I thought it'd be best to keep it quiet."

"What?" Kim said, mildly annoyed. "So you couldn't tell _us_ because of _your cousin?!_"

"Well, yeah," Leah said defensively, cringing into Sam's body as Kim glared. Leah tried to explain herself. "Well, if I had told you, you would have told Jared, who would have told Edward, who would have told Paul, who can't keep a secret."

"Oi!" Paul cried from his place on the beanbag in the lounge, where we had all gathered.

"You know its true," Sam said.

Paul laughed then, and shrugged, knowing that Sam was right.

Of course, I had heard all this from Alice, because I'd been too busy trying to un-puff and de-redden my eyes from the senseless crying I'd thrown myself into.

But now it was morning, and I was trying not to think about what had or had not happened last night, and how annoyed I was at myself for it all.

My thoughts started to influence my actions as I packed, and I angrily shoved a handful of Alice's clothes into her overnight bag. Everyone else was eating breakfast or something, but I'd said I wasn't hungry. So far this morning I hadn't seen Edward, and for that I was grateful.

The girls I'd slept in the same room with were smart enough to not bring it up again. Rosalie was even being kind to me – not that she wasn't a nice person, but usually I felt like she was too good to be seen speaking to me.

No, that wasn't the right way to put it. She certainly never snobbed me off or laughed at me, hec, I'd not even been aware she was in our grade until Emmett had claimed her as his own. Rosalie was a good person, she was just…quiet. Just quiet. And I thought the reason for that was because she didn't want to _use_ us as friends just because she was Emmett's girl.

It was a noble reason, I thought, but still quite absurd.

I heard light footfalls on the stairs, and knew without having to pause for thinking time that it was Angela. A second later the noise stopped, and I saw by my merit of my peripherals that she was leaning on the door-frame, arms crossed.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked, but it was only a courtesy question.

The rumbling of my stomach was my answer.

She sighed. "Come and have some food. You're missing out on all the fun!" Obviously, she was trying to cheer me up or something, but all I needed at the moment was a little time to sort my head out. Alone.

"No," I said, pleased to hear that my voice, at least, was normal. "I'd rather finish packing things up so we can get home a little earlier."

Another sigh from the doorway, and she was gone. She didn't come back, not to force food on me, not to insist that I vocalise my problems, not even to tell me that I was missing out again. And I was very, very grateful to her for it, because I knew she'd be stopping those (especially the bountifully energetic Alice) from coming up and trying out their own persuasive skills on me.

When I was done, I checked around the room once more to be sure I hadn't missed anything. My eyes scanned over the dusty photograph on Edward's dresser, but I deliberately did not allow my eyes to focus enough to see it properly.

Tears were beginning to prickle in my eyes, so I headed to the en suite bathroom for some tissues. They were there, on the counter, and I tore out a handful, pressing the scented velvety snot-rags to my face. Their presence set off my waterworks and soon I was trying, unsuccessfully, to find a way to make my eyes seem less red and puffy. Again.

There was a knock on the door. "Bella?"

Uh oh. I'd know that voice if I was dead.

"I'm busy!" I squealed, staring at the door and hoping like anything I'd locked it.

A pause from the other side of the door. I got a strange sense of intuition and knew that Edward was deciding whether to come in or not. I tried to be swift as I crossed the cold tiles with my bare feet and clicked the door shut.

The doorknob wriggled a bit, but I knew it was because he had let go of the handle and not because he was about to force his way in. I instantly felt guilty, like I'd made the wrong choice and I actually _did_ want him to comfort me. He _ought_ to be feeling guilty, why deny him that? _No, no, no,_ I scolded myself. What a horrible thing to think.

"I brought you some juice, if you want it. Ange said you were feeling a bit under the weather."

'_Under the weather'. Only Angela would say something like that. I knew there was a reason I loved that girl so much._

"Thanks. I'll get it when I'm out."

A pause.

A longer pause.

An even longer pause, then I heard him clear his throat and draw a breath to speak –

"Bella! Get your butt downstairs you little sook, he doesn't ever care-"

_Oh Alice. How wonderful your timing is._

"Oh. Sorry, I- you probably want to have a shower, don't you Edward? Haha. This _is_ your house after all… Sorry. I'll just be, um," was that Alice, _stuttering_? What was going on? "I think I just heard someone call my name!"

There were light steps quickly retreating down the hallway, then Alice was gone and Edward and I were alone again, separated by a door with a flimsy lock. _Unlock the door, unlock it not, unlock the door, unlock it not, unlock the_-

"Bella," Edward said, and I knew he was about to say something important. An apology? Maybe. But if he was – I didn't know what I was going to say in reply. I didn't want to find out either. So I cut him off.

"I think you should go back down and finish off your breakfast. Thanks for the juice." The finality in my tone made me feel like my heart was breaking. I had no idea why, but telling Edward to simply go downstairs made my heart ache more than it had when me and Mike had ended.

Edward didn't say anything. I heard him set down the glass of juice, then walk from the room, closing the door behind him. As soon as I heard the sound of the latch clicking I let out a huge breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. Then, once I was sure he was gone, I unlocked the bathroom door and stepped tentatively out, making as little noise as possible for an unknown reason.

There, on the dresser beside the bathroom door, was the glass of juice. I simply stared at it for a moment, but didn't pick it up. I wanted to drink it but I couldn't make my arm move to do it, so I just crossed the room and started mindlessly sifting through items around the room, checking for the millionth time that I hadn't left anything behind.

The door slowly pushed open, and I froze, my heart being thrown around in my chest like a sneaker in a clothes dryer. I should have realised by the quietness of the approaching footsteps that it wasn't Edward, but I didn't. So it was just that bit more painful when I saw Alice's head poke around the door.

"You alright?" she asked, not coming fully into the room, giving me the option to continue my morning of aloneness.

I just sighed. "Come in."

And she did. I tried to smile at her but it faltered halfway through and the tears welled up, spilling over before she'd taken the few necessary steps to be hugging me tightly. I just cried. No sobbing, no hiccoughing, no spluttering out incomprehensible words. The tears just kept making wet patterned lines on my cheeks as I breathed in and out, my head resting on Alice's small, soft shoulder.

It wasn't all to do with Edward that I was crying. I missed my mum, I missed the sun, I missed having a boyfriend - but I didn't miss Mike so much. I knew the phase would pass but it was still annoying to be stuck in such a pathetic state of mind.

But, as always, I was soon okay again. Alice sat me down on the bed and looked at me carefully.

"I would normally say that 'he's not worth it, go for someone better than him', but," she sighed and fiddled with her hands. "The problem is, though, is that he _is_ worth it."

I smiled and wiped the tears across my cheeks, looking up at the ceiling and blinking a few times.

"I'll be fine," I said, still smiling an automatically brave-looking smile. "Shall we go soon?"

"Yeah." She looked around the room. "Got everything?"

I nodded.

"Okay." She looked at me carefully, and continued to do so as she spoke. "Bella, don't worry about breakfast. Just because you're in his house, eating his food, stealing his room and using his electricity doesn't mean you have to say goodbye." There was definitely sarcasm in her tone.

I laughed again. "Alright, I'll go and eat." Alice pulled me up off the bed.

"I'll shove this stuff in my car. Angela is still down there. She'll fix you something nice."

So I dragged my feet across the floor, and tried to give myself a lift as I came closer and closer to the kitchen. The happy voices of my friends warmed the air and I found myself smiling for real when I stepped around the doorway.

"She lives!" Emmett cried. He was close enough to reach me, so he seized my hand and started twirling me around like a ballerina. I laughed.

"Emmett," Rosalie scolded playfully, twisting around on her barstool to smack his buns. Next thing she knew she was in his arms, being swung back and forth in a way similar to the technique used in fifties style films. She laughed as Emmett spun around the room, singing a made up tune.

I occupied her empty bar stool beside Angela and reached forward to the few pieces of toast left, buttering and chewing as I observed the others in the kitchen.

Everyone but Alice and Edward's parents were here, laughing and eating and enjoying their humiliation-free mornings.

Kim, Jared, Sam and Leah were chatting over their steaming mugs of coffee and hot chocolate. Angela and Ally were both sitting in silence; Angela subtly smiling at one particular Cheney brother and Ally smiling as she watched Tyler and Paul play Thumb Wars. Edward was mostly hidden by the fridge door, and had been motionlessly staring at its contents since I'd entered the room.

Feeling considerably braver and less embarrassed with witnesses in the room, I hopped off my seat and walked around the island countertop.

"Morning," I said in his ear. I thought he would have pulled back but he didn't; he just turned his head towards me. Our faces were inches apart, and my breath was caught. I swallowed heavily at his grave expression.

"Good morning," he said, fanning me with his breath.

I almost lost my self-control and jumped him, but forced my feet to move me around to his other side so I wasn't quite so close. I looked into the fridge, observing the colourful contents.

"Hungry?" he asked me, but I didn't turn to him. I kept staring at the abundance of food – it looked enough to feed Emmett for a week. And that was a lot of food.

"Yeah," I said mindlessly. "What's for breakfast?" The half-eaten bit of toast sitting on the island behind us was comparatively bland to all this wonder in front of me.

"Anything," Edward said, but he didn't say it right. It was more of a generalisation of the word, like he meant 'you can have literally_ anything_ you want'.

I did my best not to stutter too much. "Su-surprise me."

He didn't say anything. He just smiled and put his arm around my back so I was trapped between him and the big, white, cold container.

"Choose the three best looking things you can see."

_You, you and you._

The fridge started to groan with the effort of keeping the temperature consistent after being open for so long. It blasted me with a big gush of cold air and I instinctively took a tiny step back – but then found myself plastered to Edward's front. I instantly jumped forward again, shocked both by what had happened and how warm he was, and blushed deeply as I tried to locate my voice while breathing evenly.

"Kiwi fruit, yogurt and watermelon."

"Okay." He straightened up and let go of the fridge, allowing me passage. "Sit down and watch me work my magic."

_No need to sit down for that to happen._

A few minutes later I was sitting beside Angela, fruit diced in a bowl and yogurt over the top. Edward had added some muesli upon my request, and I was enjoying my very healthy breakfast.

"Did you drink your juice?" Edward asked me. I remembered the abandoned orange juice in his room. _Hope it doesn't cause an infestation of ants,_ I thought to myself.

I put my hand to my forehead, both to show my answer and because his closeness had caused a new rush of heat to my skin.

"I'll get it," he said, and then he was gone.

I kept eating, exercising a lot of self-restraint to not look around every few seconds for the rusty angel. After what seemed like hours, Edward returned, juice in hand.

He sat down beside me – and it was only then that I noticed Angela had moved. She was sitting between Ben and Tyler and was playing Thumb Wars with them both at the same time, laughing. I smiled at how happy she looked but didn't comment. Edward stayed silent too.

When I'd drained the juice and scooped the last remnants of yogurt into my mouth, I noticed that Alice was still gone. I looked around the room, through the doorway and then out the window to see if she was still putting bags into the boot. She wasn't anywhere to be seen.

I turned to Edward to ask him where Alice was.

"I don't know," he said in reply. "But she's the slowest packer I've ever seen."

I smiled and nodded, choosing not to say anything because my swollen heart was constricting my throat in his presence.

I looked back down at my empty bowl and started making patterns in the left-over yogurt while I thought. Edward stood from beside me and started collecting everyone's plates, making barely a clatter as he stacked them all neatly on the sink.

"You shouldn't leave all that for your mum," Jared said from my left.

I turned and saw that he was pushing his chair back to get up and help Edward do the dishes. Edward looked at Jared and held up a hand to stop him.

"We've got a dish washer. I'll stack everything when you guys have gone and turn it on. Easy."

I envied him for a moment, thinking how much nicer things would be if Charlie had a dish washer. _No,_ I then contradicted myself; _some of my best memories of Charlie involve washing the dishes._

"We should probably go, Emmett," Rosalie said from the end of the counter to my right. Emmett was sitting right beside her, leaning on his elbow. "We've broken enough of Edward's stuff already."

As if waiting for a cue, there was suddenly a great CRASH as some plates slid from Edward's pile and headed for the floor. With reflexes that I would have thought to be impossible, Edward was there, and caught the three plates without so much as chipping them. I then saw Tyler standing sheepishly behind him, a mug dangling from his shocked hand.

"Smooth moves, Tyler," Ally laughed from her place on the couch beside Angela and Ben.

"I didn't mean to-!"

Edward cut him off by laughing quietly. "Nothing broke. It's all good."

Tyler stepped forward to put his mug down again, but Edward intercepted him and carefully put the mug down with his own hands. Tyler sauntered back to the couch and tried not to draw attention to himself.

"Alice!" Edward said suddenly, looking over my shoulder at the doorway.

I was about to turn around, but found I didn't need to because she hopped up onto the stool beside me.

"Ready to go?" she said to me, and I knew she meant the question as more of a 'Do you still _want_ to go?'

I didn't want to go, not at all, but the memories of the assignments and unfinished work that was piling up in my bedroom clawed its way to the front of my mind. I sighed.

"Yeah, we should."

From behind me I heard Ally make a sooky noise. I turned to her and was about to say something witty when Alice beat me to it.

"Relax," she said, "you and Tyler can suck off each other's faces tomorrow. It's only Saturday, after all."

Ally looked mildly outraged and Tyler threw a shoe at her, but Alice caught the wayward ammunition and threw it back.

"Let's get a move on, people, time is money!"

And she was up, hopping around the counter to give Edward a hasty hug. _Why is she in such a rush?_ Ally used her few remaining minutes to chat with Tyler, and Angela with Ben. I got up and followed Alice's path to the other side of the counter. I took my bowl and spoon with me and put it on the other side of the sink to Edward's carefully stacked crockery. Edward watched me do so, but then picked up my bowl and put it on his side of the sink.

"Where it belongs," he said to himself as he set it down. He turned back to me and spoke a little clearer. I wondered if he had meant for me to hear his comment to the dishes. "Leaving, huh," he stated. I nodded.

"Looks like it."

"Thanks for coming, Bella-" (I couldn't help but smile hugely) "-it was good to see you again. Maybe we could go see a movie again some time." He smiled beautifully at me.

"Yeah, another group get-together is a great idea."

I suddenly heard a loud slapping noise and whipped around to see Alice with her palm on her forehead. She looked exasperated. She turned immediately away from me though, so I only got a glimpse. Puzzled, I turned back to Edward.

"See you later, then," I said, and stepped forward to give him a hug.

Conventional opposite-sex-friend-hugs last for about one and a half to two seconds. I remembered the first guy I had hugged. It was Jacob, when we were little, but Jacob hardly counted because he was like a brother to me. So I guess it would have been Jasper. In primary school we had to do a class play and somehow I got the lead role – it was probably because my character was in a coma for the majority of the time. Lying still doesn't require a huge amount of coordination. But back to the hug – Jasper had refused to hug me in rehearsals, but during the performance night he couldn't really avoid it. The hug was less than a moment long and looked more like we'd fallen onto each other and had jumped apart by electric shock. At least we got laughs for it – even though it was meant to be tender and not comical.

I'd hugged countless people since, obviously more girls than boys, and most of them were Alice and Angela anyway. But there was always something different about hugging Edward.

Every part of me felt warm. My toes, my torso, my face; my chest cavity felt like it was filled with liquid chocolate; smooth and rich. I wrapped my arms around his back and held one hand in the other, keeping my grip. Edward took a great breath in and his chest rose with the movement. I turned my face slightly so my cheek wasn't going to get squished and found that I'd unconsciously taken a big breath at the same time as him. Edward's hands were around my back, holding me completely in his long arms while my own could only just reach around his sturdy frame.

Now was the two second mark. I expected Edward to loosen his grip on me, but he didn't. I expected to loosen _my_ grip on him, but I didn't. We both stayed exactly where we were, breathing patterns in sync.

Three seconds.

Four seconds.

Five seconds.

Six seconds.

"Ooooooh! Edward and Bella, sitting in a tr-! Ouch, what was that for?"

I reluctantly let go, and noticed that Edward's arms only started to fall away when mine had.

Paul was nursing his upper arms, looking incredulously at Ally and Angela on either side of him. They were lowering their fists while Paul cringed.

Alice cleared her throat from the doorway.

"We should go." It wasn't up for negotiation this time.

I turned from Edward without looking at his face and walked to Leah and the people she was sitting with. Instead of hugging each of them standing up, I leaned forward for short hugs, moving along the line and mumbling 'see ya' and 'goodbye' as I went. Then I went to Alice by the doorway. Alice was still coaxing Ally and Angela from their places on the couch.

"Get up, or when I yank you up you're going to feel something pop in your shoulder."

Ally and Angela were instantly on their feet, the boys laughing on the couch behind them.

"Good," Alice said and turned to the Port Angeles students on her left. "Thanks heaps for a wicked night, guys, we'll have to do this again soon."

"Yeah," I agreed as everyone else said the same.

Ally kissed Tyler goodbye and Angela and Ben hugged sweetly – the first physical interaction since the cinema I'd seen. _Awww._

"Bye," I said quietly as I followed Alice out the door. It was only meant for one person, and as I left, I was sure he was the only one who heard it.

--

I got home and pulled my clothes out of my bag. Alice had left almost immediately, like she was desperately late for the Royal Ball or something. Ally and Angela were still in the car as she drove away, both giggling incessantly about their night.

Charlie wasn't home so I didn't have to worry about 'hello's when I walked in the door. I just hung up my coat and headed up the stairs, my small overnight bag hanging from one numb hand.

I shut my bedroom door behind me and headed straight for my heater, allowing blood to flow through my fingers again. As I waited, I looked around my room. My school bag sat menacingly at the end of my bed, seams splitting from the workload it possessed. An annoyed moan escaped my lips as I thought about how long it was going to take me to do it all.

I changed the settings on my heater so it heated more gradually and used less gas, then went to my bag. As I tiredly yanked books from it and looked at the subjects I had to do, my mind wandered in the background, apparently looking for some excuse to not do it just yet. My eyes caught on my overnight bag, and I thought it was a good idea to unpack it. _Can't leave it all just sitting there, can I?_

So I happily pulled it onto the doona instead, and unzipped the top, expecting my pyjamas to be on the top. But they weren't. I dug through and found them, eventually. Then I searched for my navy shirt – but it wasn't on the left hand side where I'd packed it. It was on the right, stuffed into a shoe. _What's going on?_ I yanked out handfuls of clothes and spread everything out on my bedspread. Sure, it was all there, but it wasn't how I'd left it. Then, it hit me.

_Alice._

Why was she going through my things? I saw my socks, underwear (thank god), pants, and pyjamas; the book of the moment I was reading, my overly-stretched hair-ties, miniscule makeup bag (supplied by Alice and only ever used when Alice was around), toothpaste, toothbrush…?

Toothbrush? _Where is it? Oh there is it. Also in my shoe._

_Hmm._ I looked over the pile of my possessions again. Then I saw it. One white Converse shoe was there, but the other? No. Not there. Fantastic.

_Oh Alice, why?_

* * *

**So, devilish little Alice has come up with a way to force Edward and Bella to see each other again. Muahahaha!!**

**I have to commend you guys on your reviews again - there was tonnes for the last chapter! I really appreciate it, and love you all :-)**

**Review again, if you feel so inclined!! And don't forget to give me your views on a potential lemon in this story!**

**Ohh, and my other news is thus - I'm Beta-ing now!! It's for BellaAtHeartt's story, 'Destined to Run'. If anyone else wants a Beta, I'd be _more_ than happy to oblige. I love doing it!**

**-Shaps**


	24. Memory

**Hey hey everyone! I'm so glad that you're all still sticking with me and my lame story line... sigh... but your reviews are such a light on my otherwise rainy day (literally, it's raining and very windy outside - I'm not depressed! I'm fine and hypo as always haha).**

**I got an overwhelming response of 'yes' for the lemon issue - with two or three people not too keen on it. I'm not sure yet whether it'll happen, but keep an eye out. And I'll add a warning before and after it, too.**

**And the reviewers are:**

**Screams-At-Midnight, Intoxicated By His Presence, sunybee, CullenLove, luna365, Erika Baby, Ghosts in the Snow, jeezlouise16, King of the broken hearted, bedwardforever, Music ADD, EAMC620, edwardsfavoriteflavor, laibballfan, ivmar2990, musicormisery4105, Grillllz, LookAfterMyHeart, Vampires-Rock4eva (x9), booknerd14, FrEvrNvrLasts, Bethany Knight, 143twilighter, twiroselight, FearLover, HarvestEclispe31, jacob is the new black, LivforLove, yaaaay, halokat, Bleaktwilight, AlwaysAround888, Gtimes3, Sing-my-heart-out, Michelle62092, twilightaddict26, BellaAtHeartt, Bellefire253, Dustfinger's cheering section, beggingtobebitten, McCullen, pierce.me.through.with.sadness, books and bojangles, Princess-Tinkerbelle (x3), Shining Eclipse, Rhiannon Summer, dark-star.mystery, AlwaysBettingOnAlice (x5), Ghosts in the Snow.**

**Special Mentions:**

**Just a quick note on the basis of everyone's reviews - I've been receiving questions asking why Bella was being a big time sook about getting kissed on the hand by Edward. There are several reasons for this - but mostly it's because she's angry at herself. She actually thought she had a chance with him, and instead of taking the perfect opportunity to kiss her... he goes for her hand! What would you feel like? Rejection hurts, no matter where it comes from.  
Plus, Alice and Ally and Angela have all been encouraging what Bella believes to be delusions (that Edward likes her too) - which doesn't help. Now, I know that you're all probably getting annoyed with her emotional states - but have a little tolerance, please? She's just a seventeen year old girl. And if she wasn't Bella and you all didn't know that Edward loves her regardless of what happens, you'd all feel a little muddled if you were in her situation.  
-Deep breath-.  
Okay, that's my ramble of the moment. But _thank you_ _so much_ to the people who've been sympathising with hormone-fuelled little Bella :-)**

**Screams-At-Midnight: Well, Alice and Leah have been debating the whole time as to whether to just tell Edward and Bella how the other feels, but they always end up not doing it because as much as they love to meddle, it's not their place. They think that if Edward and Bella get together they're going to have to find a way for themselves. But Alice, being Alice, got fed up and decided to force them to see each other again, hopefully alone.**

**luna365: Yep, the letters will continue :-)**

**musicormisery4195: OH! Brilliant! I didn't even realise the whole relation to Cinderella thing - nice pick up!**

**booknerd14: A 'sook' is someone who complains or acts like a little kid - you could replace 'sook' with 'baby' in my story and I think it'd still make sense lol.**

**143twilighter: Lol, the toothbrush just fell in the shoe I think... I just thought it was an amusing something to add...**

**jacob is the new black: Haha, rusty angel, I thought that was pretty clever myself... :-)**

**Gtimes3: Heh, I love randomly reverting back to when the three of them were little and stuff... OH MY GOSH YOU JUST GAVE ME THE BEST IDEA EVER! Read at the end Author's Note to find out ;-)**

**Bellefire253: Nope, the Masquerade Ball is the Saturday of the upcoming week. That chapter will appear soon :-)**

**books and bojangles: Hahaha, I love your ranbles - they're very interesting. Especially the thing about watching 'Moonraker' and going through an old photo album!**

**Princess-Tinkerbelle: Oh, I feel special with my little old story-o now, cos you read it as soon as your were un-grounded lol. Hahaha, I'm glad you're back to not liking Mike again! It seems that guy just belongs in the 'Not Liked' box. And just for you, I'll add an 'xo' on the end of Edward's letter to Bella :-) Edward's not a stalker, lol, that would just be a very strange and random twist to the story if he was! Not to mention creepy! Emily won't be in this story, so Sam and Leah are all good. **

**Shining Eclipse: Yeah, I could just reply to them personally - but what fun is that? Besides, I think people like being mentioned in the story's actual chapter - and this way if people have questions that I've already answered then I can just refer them to read _that_ reply instead of writing a whole new one. And if people don't want to read it, then they can just skip all the bolded stuff :-)**

**AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Bella does realise about Carlisle, yes - but she only really properly picks up on it in this chapter. Your reviews made me laugh, they're so cute and crazy and stuff - just like Alice Cullen! Hope you enjoy this chapter :-D**

**--**

**Again, thank you all for sticking with it and reviewing all the time, you're awesome!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Memory**

* * *

_**--**_

_**Dear Bella,**_

_**Hey, how are you? I hope you had an awesome weekend. I had a really good time getting to know you, and your friends are really cool too. Except for the episode with Emmett and the jelly – but we shall not mention that. Oh, and you left your shoe here. How do I know it was yours? Well, um, there was a note tied to it which said 'Bella Swan's shoe'. I think Alice might have had something to do with it.**_

_**Well, since you know what I did with my weekend already, I'll tell you what happened after you guys left.**_

_**Rosalie and Emmett left about ten minutes after you guys did – not much to report there. Tyler and Ben played about fifteen rounds of Thumb Wars to see who would drive home. And they gave Paul a lift too. Those three are becoming almost inseparable! They're all so funny and weird sometimes, they remind me of myself when I was a plastic-sword wielding (and Star Wars obsessed) kid. Anyway, Sam and Leah gave Jared and Kim a lift back to their places. But before Jared left, he insisted we all do the dishes together for some bonding time. Jared is really weird sometimes too. But he wouldn't drop it so we did the dishes together. It never occurred to me that he would know how to give bruises with a wet tea-towel when I wouldn't – but I'm a fast learner. He'd better be in as much pain as I am when he sits down! I wonder if it's possible to write a word or draw a picture with bruises? Hmm. I'll look into that and let you know.**_

_**What did you do on Sunday? I did a fair bit of homework. And I went out to dinner with my parents – it's still weird to think of them like that! I'm not into the habit of calling them 'mom' and 'dad', and I don't think I ever will. They're just going to have to deal with me calling them Esme and Carlisle! By the way, I'm really sorry about you not being able to meet Carl, he's a really cool bloke. He never gets angry – it's quite weird. But he told me he works in Forks, so maybe you already know him? His name is Carlisle Cullen and my Aunt/Mother's name is Esme Cullen.**_

_**Bella, there's something I want to talk to you about, and I don't think I'd be able to say it right on the phone or anything and I couldn't think of what to say around you on the weekend, so forgive me for saying this in a letter.**_

_**I got dared to kiss you. I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to offend you, I mean, you might never have talked to me again! And that would be horrible, because I love being friends with you. I don't know how boring life would be if I hadn't picked up your name for this Pen Pal project. Seriously, being friends with you has definitely had its perks – I mean, I got free lollies in the cinema because of Emmett, I've met Alice and Tyler and Ally and Ben and Angela all because of you. I found out about Sam and Leah because of you! Lots of good things come from being mates with you, so I didn't want to screw it up because of a dare. I hope you know what I mean and you're still going to talk to me…?**_

_**Anyway, I think there are more important things you could be doing with your time – washing the dishes, for instance. Hop to it! (Joking! :-D)**_

_**From the leader of Bruised Butts United,**_

_**Edward Masen xo**_

--

_Dear Edward,_

_Hey! Good to hear from you. My weekend was pretty good, thanks, and it's good to hear yours was good too._

_I said 'good' too many times in that sentence. Sorry._

_All Sunday I spent my time trying to catch up on school work. It was terrible! I've never wanted so badly to burn my calculus book. Honestly, wouldn't it just be easier to leave it to the calculators to do it?! It's not like anyone actually goes through and does every single silly equation by hand anymore. It's the age of technology, people!!_

_So you went out to dinner with your parents? I'll bet that was fun, haha. But seriously, did you enjoy it? Was it awkward? Are you still mad, even a little bit? I would be. Sorry if these questions are out of line, by the way. I don't mean for them to be, I'm just, well. I'm just good at asking stupid things at just the wrong time. But I don't think you'll mind, will you?_

_Oh. My. Gosh. You dad is Carlisle Cullen? **The** Carlisle Cullen?! He's my school principal!! Whoa. That's really weird. Crazy, in fact. Does he know who I am? Should I say hello to him now? Oh my goodness Edward, why did you tell me that! I could have gone and lived my life in blissful ignorance for ever and ever (that's the best kind of ignorance, by the way). Oh well. I'll deal. He's a pretty cool guy, so it's not like he'll quiz me on my grades when I come to visit, will he? (Lie to me if you have to. My nerves are on edge. Alice gave me an energy drink because I was tired this morning, but now I'm bouncing off the ceiling. Can you tell? I can. But that's because I'm right here and I'm me. Okay, that was quite strange of me to say. Scrap that. I have an English essay to write in an hour today for class. It's going to suck; I'll have the worst hand cramps ever! Have you ever done that? I tried to write for an hour straight on the weekend and- Okay. Sorry. I'm babbling. Back to whatever it was I was talking about before…)_

_Oh, the Dare thing, I've completely forgotten about it! 'What Dare?' I shall say when ever some one mentions it. Because it was just a Dare, right? Right._

_Oh my gosh. How sweet were Ben and Angela on the weekend? They totally love each other. And Alice didn't even do any setting up! (I think.) Hopefully he'll ask her out soon. Then her and Ally could go on double dates with their boyfriends! Wouldn't that be sweet?_

_Anyway. I think Coach Clapp is starting to suspect I'm not doing the class work – because I'm actually doing something and no one else is. I'll blame you if I get a detention!_

_I hope this wears off soon. I have to do an oral presentation for History and I don't really want to talk so fast that no one can understand me._

_Hyperactively yours,_

_Bella Swan xo_

_P.S. I'll try and get the shoe from you soon. My load of homework will stop me from coming to Port Angeles – so can you come down? Actually, it's not that important. Just bring it with you this Saturday to the Ball – if you don't know what that is, consult either Leah or Alice. I'm sure they'll be planning something for us (our groups, I mean, not you and me alone…) Right. See you later, have a good week!_

--

It was unusually freezing when I got out of my truck at school. Usually the middle days of the week were the nicest – the real rain usually kept itself under wraps until the weekend (when it could properly ruin people's plans).

Regardless, I hopped out and tried to be quick as I jammed the key into the lock, then ducked my head and ran toward the nearest shelter source I could see. Fortunately, there had been an open spot close to the front office, and so I was now trying to shake the drops of water from my plastic outfit before pushing open the doors and fully appreciating indoor heating.

Mrs Cope was sitting at her desk behind the main counter, and another two women were quietly clattering their fingernails against their keyboards on other desks. I'd seen them around the school before, running errands and such, but hadn't had any interaction with them other than that. One of the ladies had her dark hair thrown into a pony tail and was still wearing her marshmallow jacket; the other looked to be pushing her late-forties but had blonde pig tails. Somehow, it looked good on her. She looked up from her desk and smiled at me, and I could see that she was one of those people who look eternally young - yet you still knew how old they were. It was an exact kind of demeanour to possess. I smiled back and stepped forward, directing my gaze to Mrs Cope.

I cleared my throat unconsciously and Mrs Cope's head instantly snapped up. Her expression changed infinitesimally when she realised who it was, but I couldn't pick how. I let it go.

"Good morning," I said.

Mrs Cope's chair groaned as she stood up and came over to the counter. "Can I help you, Miss Swan?"

I realised that I hadn't needed to disturb her to simply drop my letter into the shoe box, so I scrambled for something to say.

"I was wondering if I need permission or anything to put up fliers around the school," I improvised, thinking of the Masquerade Ball this Saturday night.

Mrs Cope laughed, and reminded me of Santa Claus in her jolly nature. Not that I'd ever say that to _her_, though.

"No, dear, you can put anything up but if it's not appropriate then there will be punishment. But I'm sure you wouldn't put anything silly on the noticeboards, would you?" She laughed again and I smiled at the mental image of her with a pointed red hat on her head, the white pom-pom swinging back and forth as her belly rumbled with 'ho ho ho!'s.

I remembered the poster Jasper had put up of Alice a few weeks back and wondered whether I should point out to her how easy it was to put 'inappropriate' material on the school notice boards. _Not worth it, really._

"Okay. I'll just drop in my letter then, and be going."

I pulled the white square from my bag and posted it into the blue shoebox. Mrs Cope went back to her desk and her chair groaned again as she sat. Another Christmas-related image came to mind but I stifled it and turned to leave.

Suddenly, I was three feet from the school principal. _Crap!_

"Bella!" he said, like he'd known me since I was a little toddler rather than because I was the Chief's daughter.

"Good morning, sir," I said, frantically casting around for conversation topics. What was I meant to say to Edward's father?!

"How was your weekend?" He seemed nice enough.

_What do I say? Do I lie? Does he know I was at Edward's? Of course he knows. How could he not? It's his house. But he wasn't there. Umm… what kind of words do I use? Teenaged words? English-essay style words? What, what, what?! Uh oh. He's looking at me like I'm mentally challenged. Speak now, and sound smart._

"It was good; I saw a movie with some friends."

_Technically true._

"Oh, was it a horror movie?"

_He knows._

"Yes, it was actually. Sam had to leave half way through, he was so scared. I just hid between Edward's arm and the seat whenever someone was about to be butchered."

_Oh no. Should I not have said that? Should I not know that Edward's his son? Ahh! I'll bet he thinks I like his son now. Oh god. I have a crush on the principal's son!_

But Principal Cullen laughed and shook his head, and I thought he must have been thinking about the other stories he'd heard about Sam and his difficulties with horror movies.

"Yeah, I'll bet Sam was scared." He looked over my shoulder, then back to me. His face was apologetic. "Sorry, Miss Swan, but I think there's a call for me. I'd better take it. Have a good morning!"

He stepped around me and I watched from the corner of my eye as he took the phone from Mrs Cope – who was grinning so much it looked slightly painful. I realised that I should have replied to his departing words, but it was too late now, and I knew I was going to have to face the outside weather sooner or later.

So I adjusted my shoulder bag and pulled my hood up over my head, then stepped forward to be greeted by a drenching slap of water.

As I headed off to Biology, my thoughts freely wandered.

I thought about the weekend, and every time I did my perverted little mind would think of how excruciatingly perfect Edward was. When he's beckoned me from the door of his room without a shirt on, I'd nearly had to be kicked out by Alice. My limbs wouldn't work and I was extremely lucky that my words hadn't come out in the wrong order, or not at all. Then, he had told me he had been dared to kiss me. _But_, I reminded myself, _you're going to get confused and emotionally unstable if you don't think about the whole situation. Go from the start._

--thinking back to Friday night--

There was a knock on the door, and Leah answered it. She opened it a crack, wary of how often boys liked to play pranks, but then opened it fully. Alice had to shut my jaw for me when I saw who was standing there. And what he _wasn't_ wearing.

"Sorry, Leah." He looked a little uncomfortable as his cousin lightly scolded his appearance. "I won't be like this for long. Can I have Bella for a minute, please?"

He glanced over Leah's shoulder, looking for me. Then his eyes fell to mine and I was suddenly on my feet, striding over to the door. I was shocked at my own boldness, but I seemed to be a possessed woman. However, anything that got me closer to a half-naked Edward was a good anything, so I allowed my unconscious mind to control my mouth too.

"What's up?" I said, trying and failing to sound casual. "What happened to your shirt?"

"Emmett happened to my shirt."

Oh, he was so witty sometimes. I _loved_ witty. I loved hot, muscular, rippling- Hang on. _'Emmett happened to his shirt'_? I grinned at him, waggling my eyebrows to point out a second meaning to his statement.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," he admonished, but he was smiling beautifully at me. "Would you mind coming into another room for a minute?"

Even my _heart_ was holding its breath. Uncertain of what I was meant to do now, or if this was some kind of sick joke, I looked over my shoulder to Alice. She was nodding so crazily that if her head rolled off I wouldn't have been surprised. She was waving her hands at me, trying to push me out the door with sheer force of her will. Then, she looked past me and waved at Edward, who had apparently seen her and her obvious encouragement.

I swallowed hard and tried to control my voice while the heavy words left my mouth. "I guess so."

I was massively shocked when he took my hand. It was so warm, and soft, and silky, and reminded me of when I was little and had a teddy with silk-button eyes and I would always sit and stare into its shiny gaze. He led me down the hall, and I heard odd noises coming from one of the rooms, but didn't comment. Edward's hand flexed slightly against mine, and I wondered what he was thinking about.

_What's he taking me down here for? What can't he say to me in front of our friends? Oh my gosh, maybe he wants me to be his girl-_. _Stop,_ I warned myself sharply. _Don't think anything that will later make you sad if it doesn't happen._

Suddenly, just as we were passing the room with the odd noises, Emmett's voice thundered out.

"Edward!" he yelled deafeningly, and I thought he must have been very close to the door to make such a sound.

Edward stopped short and I only just prevented myself from running into him. If I hadn't been staring so much that my eyes were staring to water, I _would_ have run into him.

"What?" Edward called out. He must have been feeling cold because he shivered.

"Make it a proper one! No scared-little-freshman business." Emmett called out. I realised Rosalie was in there, because she giggled. Edward suddenly yanked on my hand and we walked faster down the long hall.

_Oh, my, god._ Did he mean what I thought he meant?

I didn't notice that every boy in the house excluding Emmett and Edward's elusive father had been following us until Edward was yelling at them from on the other side of a door frame.

"LOOPHOLE!" he shouted, then slammed the door in their faces; their faces, which ranged in expression from dumbfounded to outraged.

He turned to me, and I must have looked just as confused as I felt because he seemed a little concerned for my well being.

"Uh," he said carefully, swaying on the spot the way he does when he's trying to figure something out. He paused for a moment and looked me in the eyes as he spoke again. "I got dared to kiss you, with my shirt off. Is that okay?"

_YES, yes, yes, yes!! In what lifetime _wouldn't_ that be okay?!_

But I couldn't say anything, my throat was tight and my limbs wouldn't move. I desperately wanted to reach up and kiss him like he'd never been kissed before, to completely jump him even though I barely knew him. None of that mattered though, because I couldn't even blink let alone throw myself onto him. Not that I'd have the guts to do that anyway.

_Maybe he's joking?_

"Bella?" He waved his hand in front of my face and I blinked a few times, shaking my head to try and clear it.

"Sorry. Dunno what happened." _Or, I do know what happened and am just too mortified to tell you. _I put my hand to my head as I tried to think whether I'd just spaced out and had had a fantastic daydream or not. "You're supposed to kiss me?" I sounded doubtful, even to myself, because the 'joke' theory was sounding more and more likely as the seconds dragged on.

Edward's face contained pain. _Oh god, he's revolted by the mere idea of coming near me…_

He whispered his response. "Yes."

_I should let him off the hook. I wouldn't want to kiss me either. _"On the cheek?" I moved my hand across my skin, trying to cool my quickly heating face.

Edward looked calculating for a moment, then I could see on his face that he'd gotten an idea of some sort. I half-expected him to yell 'FIRE!' and run screaming from the house as a way of getting out of this dare. Maybe he'd actually _light_ a fire first.

He looked blankly at my mouth, then back to my eyes. _I'll bet my lips are as dry and cracked as burnt toast._

Then he raised his hand, and I froze.

"Or on the hand, if you'd prefer." He lifted my hand from my cheek and lightly touched his lips to my palm. "There. No pain."

'_No pain'? Oh, that's ironic,_ I thought, feeling my heart shrivel in my chest. _Oh, hello Rejection, it's been a while since you've constricted my heart like this. Nice of you to pay me a visit on this fine Friday night._

Then, the most horrid thing happened. My eyes started to well up, so I instinctively looked down, yanking my hand from his grip and wiping furiously at the stupid beads of pain rolling down my face.

"Bella? What's wrong?"

He tried to lift my chin but I pushed his hand away. I didn't want him to see me crying. _Being an emotional girl is stupid._

I tried to be quiet as I sniffed; my nose was out to embarrass me too.

"I've got to go." The words came out in a rush, and I turned and bolted for the door.

My lungs yearned for a fresh breath, but when I opened my mouth to take it, a gush of air escaped in an unmistakable sob. My hands were covering my eyes, making it hard to see. I threw open the door and the eavesdropping boys jumped back, shocked at my appearance, so I used the minor distraction to shove through them. I hoped none of them saw – or figured out – why I was covering my eyes and making a break for it.

I sprinted down the hall and slammed the door behind me as I got into Edward's room. The girls were sitting around, talking in whispers in case Edward's parents were sleeping. I started to hiccough, and desperately needed tissues, so I made a beeline for the bathroom, head down. Angela and Alice were behind me in an instant.

"What happened?" Alice spoke first, putting her hand around my shoulders as I leaned over the sink.

Angela disappeared from my out of the corner of my eye for a moment, then reappeared with a box of tissues in hand. I wanted to hug her to thank her, but didn't. I don't know why I didn't. I think an impulsive hug would have been a good remedy right at that moment. Instead, I just reached slowly for the box and pulled out a sheet of flimsy white paper and pressed it to my face.

"Thanks," I croaked.

Somehow, Alice knew that now was not the time for words. She just turned me around and gently pushed me down so I was sitting on the floor, knees at my chin. They both sat either side of me, completely silent, knowing that I would talk when I was ready.

It was at least five minutes of silence broken only by my sniffs and hiccoughs before I spoke.

"He doesn't want me."

They were both silent, a reaction I hadn't expected, so I raised my head. Angela had rested her head on the back of the cupboard behind me, eyes closed. I'd have thought she was asleep if it weren't for the smile-come-grimace playing on her face. On my other side, Alice was looking at me with an indefinable expression. She was mad, sad, concerned, outraged, disappointed and disbelieving all at the same time – all of these on top of several other emotions too.

"Oh, Edward," she mumbled, disappointed, but it was more to herself than either Angela or I. She turned to me, intensity blazing in her eyes. I was a little startled, but covered it before the expression could betray me. "Bella," she said seriously. "He wants you. Trust me. He's just a silly, clueless boy."

I spluttered a laugh, but it was at Alice's comment being completely wrong rather than being right. _'He looked revolted at the mere _idea_ of kissing me, Alice. I think that's a good indication of how much he wants me, don't you agree?'_ But I didn't say it. I just sighed, and grabbed another tissue.

The rest of the night was a blur of repetitive affirmations from Alice and Angela. I remembered Alice offering to get me some water, and then me seeing the worst possible person through the coincidentally opened bedroom door when she opened the bathroom door to leave. I turned my head away and buried it in Angela's shoulder. Thankfully, Alice closed the door behind her and I was spared that extra bit of humiliation.

After a few hours of being a complete baby, I climbed into my sleeping bag and tuned everything out while the girls watched movies. My two last thoughts before slipping into the dream world were; _Please let my eyes look un-puffy in the morning,_ and _Dear God, if you're there, give me some kind of dream to remember in the morning as a compromise for having me heart stomped all over. Thanks._

--Back to reality--

And then I was walking into my biology room, and my stupid, rainy reality was thrown forcefully back in my face. _Thanks for the non-existent dream, eh God._

* * *

**Ahh! I'm so excited! I just got the awesomest idea for a sequal - okay. So this is what the idea is - though it's not much of a sequal, really, but whatever. Here's the idea:**

**So, there's been references to Bella and Jacob being best friends when they were young, and a play in which Bella and Jasper starred. Also to several other random moments in their childhoods. So, my idea is this - how about I do a story of the time when the play was in pre-production, production, post-production; along with the events along the way...? Let me know what you think.  
And, if you're lucky and I'm feeling inspired, I'll also write a sequal set in the time _after_ this story. Yes..?**

**The other thing that I have to say is that for the next week I won't have access to a computer... but, the next chapter is the Masquerade Ball, so I think it'll be a worthwhile wait. I'll make sure it's an extra long chapter just for you readers :-D**

**Love you all! Review!**

**-Shaps**


	25. Masquerade

**WARNING: This chapter is the reason this story is an 'M' rating. But since you're all reading it, you are obviously _allowed_ to, so I'm not going to add a warning at the beginning of the 'M' part. Besides, if you skip it it'll ruin the storyline.**

**Well! I'm back :-D I've been in the city with my (older) sisters for the past week because my parents went on some four-day holiday thing. I had a good time - one of my friends came and stayed with me for a few days - but it feels good to be able to post another chapter for you all!! And aww... I had soo many reviews, I mean; the names of the reviewers below are just the people that review chap 24. There were a ton more from other chapters and stuff. You guys are champs!**

**I also got a resounding response on the sequal issue - I think I'll probably do one. There wasn't a lot of enthusiasm for the prequal so if I do get around to it, it probably wont be very long.**

**PLEASE READ: I don't think I'll do a lemon... it just doesn't fit in the story.**

**Reviewers: (These are just from chap 24 - I'm too tired to try and write every single reviewer's name and the number of reviews they left, but I love you all just the same!)**

**laibballfan, LookAfterMyHeart, bedwardforever, FrEvrNvrLasts, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, Intoxicated By His Presence, MelissaTheTwilightFan, jennifier potter, In The Life Of Sara's, Rhiannon Summer, Bleaktwilight, booknerd14, HarvestEclipse31, Thats-So-Alice, Shining Eclipse, LivforLove, Bethany Knight, edwardsfavouriteflavour, ivmar2990, jacob is the new black, jake.n.ash.n.edward, Princess-Tinkerbelle, Screams-At-Midnight, CullenLove, dark-star.mystery, margaritama, x-aly-x, Gtimes3, BellaAtHeart, 143twilighter, Vampires-Rock4eva, books and bojangles, Erika Baby, smile for the paparazzi, Sbieleski, Music ADD, MandeeJx3, ForeverWasteAway, IrisOfTheRainbow, Eshizz, BlackBells, xx Phyre xx, StarryNightT, neatospeedo, gkc, tw-i-see-light, musicormisery4105, Fanpire, Ghosts in the Snow.**

**Special Mentions: (again, just from chap 24)**

**bedwardforever: There'll just be Bella's POV in this story... no Alice's unfortunately. But it's good to have a little mystery, isn't it?**

**Rhiannon Summer: What? Why are you killing me..?**

**HarvestEclipse31: Yeah, Bella is a lot different in her letters than she is in real life - but with letters she can take as long as she wants to think of a response to something, where as face-to-face makes her nervous. Especially with Edward. But hey, who wouldn't be tongue tied around Edward? Lol.**

**edwardsfavouriteflavour: Edward wanted to break it gently to Bella that she'd been around his father for the last few years of her life without realising it, so by suggesting it or pretending not to know a lot about it he was trying to let her figure it out for herself. Which she did :-)**

**xx Phyre xx: Sorry... but I am confused about your question, could you let me know what you meant about the Esme thing? Thanks :-D**

**--**

**Again, this was a short 'Special Mentions' section, but I'm so tired it's not funny! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Masquerade**

* * *

_Saturday night. The 'big night'. The Masquerade Ball. The Big Saturday Night Masquerade Ball._

No matter how I thought of it, my stomach still twisted into knots. Currently I was in Alice's bedroom, wearing my beautiful purple dress and beautiful black shoes with my beautiful black satin mask was hanging limply from my hand. Alice was strutting around in her fabulously flattering dress. I couldn't believe that she'd managed to look _even better_ than normal, but hey, it _was_ Alice.

The dress was strapless, and like mine, came to the floor. The main body of it was white, but there were elegantly messy strips of black lace hanging from the band around her torso. There were gold ribbons strewn through the mess of material, and though it looked like she was some kind of gothic bride who'd just sprinted backwards through a rose bush, Alice made the dress beautiful by wearing it. She raised her golden mask with one hand and held the side of her dress with the other as she swayed her hips on the spot. I'd been given the honour of doing her hair tonight – she'd grown it out a bit and it was now long enough to be gently curled. So that's what I did. And I thought it looked great.

The mask was a satiny kind of gold, and had black trimming around the edges; both around the outside edge and around her eyes. She could seduce a gay man by just looking at him. I was envious beyond comprehension.

"What do you think?" she said, turning to look at herself in the full-length mirror. She looked her reflection up and down, scrutinising every part of what she was wearing. I realised that I'd forgotten that I'd been asked a question, and Alice looked back at me, expectant.

"Oh, yeah, you look drop dead gorgeous, Alice," I said, the phrase '_understatement of the century'_ drifting through my head.

Alice giggled and looked back at the mirror. "Thanks, Bella." There was a small pause, then she looked back at me. "Come here," she instructed, stepping to the side.

I walked over to her, and looked at her, waiting for an explanation. "What?"

She didn't say anything, she just looked back at the mirror. There, staring back at me was someone I barely recognised, but would be happy to pretend to be for the night.

The dress looked good, the shoes looked good, the jewellery looked good, the makeup and hair looked good. The mask looked good, even though it was just hanging from my hand. And _I_ looked good wearing them all. I smiled.

Alice insisted on taking her Porsche, and I had no problem with that. It was much flashier than my truck, and Alice always liked to make an entrance. There was no point in denying her the simple pleasure.

"You _do_ know where Jasper's house is, right?" I could only just see her from the faint lights on the dashboard.

"Yeah, Emmett knows." She kept her eyes on the road, but she knew I was about to ask 'why' so she continued speaking. "I think he was going to egg his house last year or something, but the idea got out and some other people got to it before him."

"Oh." I sat back in my seat and watched the streetlamps whiz past.

Around ten minutes later the car started to decelerate. Up on a hill at the end of a long driveway was a huge house. Even from down here, which would have to have been at least a kilometre away, we could see graceful couples dancing on a huge balcony with the yellowish lights of the house twinkling behind them. Alice squealed with excitement beside me, and I laughed.

We both stared at the house as it got closer. There was a guy with glow-in the dark traffic control rods in his hands directing the cars to a large meadow at the back of the Whitlock's house. Alice parked there along with at least another hundred cars, and threw her keys into her hidden dress pocket as we walked to the house.

"Wow," was all I could say. We rounded the corner from a five car-garage building and the whole scene was laid out before us.

There were wide white steps with candles lining them leading down to a huge paved area. People were standing around chatting, wine glasses in their hands. Every guy was wearing a tuxedo and every girl was wearing a beautiful Victorian style dress with a mask on their face. Jasper had done well. I didn't see many people I recognised, but I could hear Tanya's nasal laugh and Victoria's screechy voice carrying over the crowd. Olden-style music was quietly playing through a stack of amplifiers both taller and wider than Alice's car.

"Masks on," Alice said, holding hers up to her face. Her cheeks were lifted in an unmistakable grin.

"Masks on," I agreed, and carefully strapped mine to my face. It was comfortable, fortunately, and I didn't feel the need to itch my nose or readjust the placement of the eye-holes.

"Let's go." Alice led the way down the steps, holding her dress elegantly as she went so she wouldn't go flying. I copied her and was pleased to have conquered the stairs in heels.

We passed four burly men in tuxedos who were standing guard at the end of the path. _Security guards. _Jasper certainly hadn't skimped on the details.

Alice linked her arm in mine and we stepped forward together. A few people closest to us immediately stopped talking and stared at us both. Then the people behind them looked; and those behind _them_; until the only thing heard were the quavering lyrics of an unknown singer.

I leaned down and whispered to Alice. "What's going on?"

She took a moment to answer, but looked up at me after a few seconds. "They're looking at you."

I blushed and hoped like anything that my underwear line wasn't showing, or that my breasts were sufficiently covered, or that there wasn't a hideous stain on my lovely purple dress.

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Because, you look fabulous."

"I do?"

"_Yes._"

"Oh." I looked up and relaxed a bit when I saw that most people had turned away, though some kept looking at me like they didn't know who I was. "I'm going to get a drink," I said, untangling my arm from Alice's.

"Okay. Catch up soon."

Then I turned and headed over to the long white table with delicate looking foods on it. I was just wondering whether a particular dish would be spicy or not when a voice made me jump.

"Good evening, Miss Swan," he said, and I turned to see Jacob strolling over.

I smiled and straightened up. "Hey Jake, you look great!" And he _did_ look great. He was wearing a tux and had done his hair for once. It was in a carefully smoothed back 'do, but looked classy on him. He looked every part the gentleman. "This is amazing; did you and Jasper do it all on your own?"

"Kind of," he leaned on the table and looked out at the now waltzing crowd. "Japer's sister helped out a fair bit. She's good with this stuff."

I was surprised, and curious. "Jasper has a sister?"

"Sure," Jake raised an eyebrow at me. "Isn't Alice's brother dating her or something?"

_Rosalie?! _Rosalie_ Whitlock?!_

"I, you, Emmett's- What?"

"Rosalie. That's Jasper's sister. Why do you think she's the only one who can control him?"

_That would explain a lot._

"What? For how long?" I instantly wanted to grab the words back once they'd been spoken. What an undeniably stupid thing to say.

Jake laughed, but it wasn't nasty. "Since birth, Bella. They're twins."

_Twins. Wow._

"Geez." I pondered this for a moment. "Where is Jasper? And Rosalie? And everyone else, for that matter?"

Jake shrugged. "Still coming, I guess. Rose is here somewhere, Jasper's busy chatting up some chick – and as for your friends – I have no idea."

Another dance tune struck up, and I felt the urge to get on the dance floor. I was sure that it wouldn't be good for my health, but for some reason the song was making me ignore that. I looked at Jake, and smiled.

"Wanna dance?" I said, holding out a hand.

He didn't hesitate. "Sure."

His hand covered mine and he led me elegantly out onto the dance floor, getting us a little room between the other dancers just by being so big. He then turned to me and put one palm on my waist and the other linked with my fingers. I put my free hand on his shoulder and swayed to the music with him. He taught me the easy steps, and soon we were laughing as I continually got his toes.

"I have an idea," he mused after the sixth crush of his right foot.

"Yeah?"

"Stand on my feet."

"Okay." So I did. I stood on his feet like I did when I was little and Charlie would dance with me in the lounge of our home, Renee playing the piano. I pushed the memory aside and concentrated on the here and now.

"You look really good," Jacob said kindly, knowing me well enough to see that I was still feeling a little self-conscious. Some people were still giving me queer looks.

"Thanks," I said sincerely, smiling at him. This was the Jake I liked. This was the Jake that I spent almost all my waking time with when I was small. This was the Jake that made me laugh when I was sad, smile when I was angry, and handed me a bandaid whenever I fell. _Too bad it never stays like this,_ I thought unhappily to myself.

"What's wrong?" he asked me, and I realised too late that whatever I would think about would always show on my face.

"Nothing," I said quickly. Too quickly.

"Come on, I won't tell. Promise," he said, giving me the grin that I'd usually only ever see in pictures from sandpit castle days.

I knew he wouldn't let it drop, and I knew I was a terrible liar. So I went for the truth and hoped he wouldn't laugh at me.

I pushed back my mask so I could see him better; and so he could see me better too. It rested on the top of my head. "I was thinking that you always change when you're around Jasper. One minute, you're sweet and kind – the Jake that I was best friends with when I was little. Then, you're throwing things at people in the cafeteria and laughing when someone hurts themselves. I don't get it. It's very confusing. And I also don't understand why you're friends with Jasper. He's horrid to everyone."

I said all that with a calm expression, and instead of Jake laughing, he looked thoughtful. _Is he actually listening to me?_

"Everyone is different around different people, Bella." I opened my mouth to contradict him, but he silenced me with a look. I pursed my lips and kept dancing with him. "Now, I know I'm _very_ different around you and Jasper, but so is Jasper. He's a much better person when he's not around certain people."

"What do you mean 'certain people'?"

He looked uncomfortable, and I could see his mind calculating by his facial expression. "I mean, well," he looked around to make sure we weren't being eavesdropped on. "Can you keep a secret?"

I nodded.

"Okay. Jasper only acts like a dick-weed around Alice."

I stared at him, uncomprehending. I knew the answer was blatantly obvious, but it was eluding me for some reason.

"What?"

"Bella," he said, frustrated that I was making him say it. "Jasper is pretty much in love with Alice."

I was silent for a moment, and used almost all my self control to not yell. So I spoke through clenched teeth.

"So, he likes her, yet he makes it his mission to _ruin her life?_"

Jacob sighed and let go of my hand for a moment while he ran it through his hair. I put my other arm on his shoulder so I wouldn't fall from the platform of his feet. He sighed a frustrated sigh and put his arms on my lower back to help hold me up.

"I don't know. _He_ doesn't really know. He just wants an excuse to talk to her, I think. Or maybe he's hoping she'll confront him about it one day and they'll end up in each others arms by the end of the fight…? I really have no idea. He's weird like that."

I didn't say anything for a moment, but simply stared at the buttons on Jake's shirt while we danced. I didn't even notice that a new song was playing now.

_Maybe its time for a subject change._

"Why isn't it wet in here?" I said, looking at the starless sky, knowing that clouds would be biding their time for an attack of rain.

"There's a plastic cover over everything. Like a tent. It's awesome during the night because you can't see it." He looked up too. "Shame that we can't see the stars."

_Great. Comments on the weather. This conversation is pretty much dead. Abandon ship!_

I stepped off of Jacob's feet and looked up at him, then dropped my hands to my sides. He dropped his hands as well. I was pleased to notice that he didn't try anything during the whole dance/conversation.

"I think I'll go get that drink now. I'll speak to you a bit later, Jake. And thanks for telling me that, um, secret."

"No problem. See you," he waved, then disappeared into the crowd.

I headed back to the drinks table and poured one for myself. I leaned against the table, one arm folded, as I thought about what Jake had just told me.

_Jasper likes Alice. A lot. But he's horrible to her! What kind of a person does that to someone they have feelings for? It's stupid. Senseless. Why wouldn't he just tell her?_ I looked around the crowd and saw Jasper's head bouncing along the border as he walked. Usually I would have cringed and turned away, but I didn't. I observed him like he was a specimen under a microscope.

His expression was a bit bored, but attentive. He was watching everyone carefully for any sign of conflict. Though he normally made people feel passionately angry, he was also good at being a calming influence. I'd seen him talk drunks out of fights who had been about to rip apart each other's throats at parties – but then he'd go and steal their car keys for the night. _Hang on,_ the little voice in my head interrupted. _How many accidents has there been since he started doing that? None. He was just worried about them._

_Oh my God. Jasper Whitlock is nice._

"Bella."

I almost screamed at the interruption to my epiphany.

"Mike! What are you doing here?" I held my hand over my heart and tried to breathe normally. I was being frightened way too much lately.

"I was invited." He'd skipped the 'v' in 'invited'; slurring his words. Mike was drunk.

I looked him over, taking in his wrinkled shirt, shoes on the wrong feet, tie loosened and vest done up on the wrong buttons. I felt a surge of pity for him, despite my mind reminding me of how horrid he was.

_But he's still a person,_ I answered back.

I looked at the well-dressed people around me and wondered how many had seen him like this. No one was paying us any attention, so I made my decision.

"Come on, Mike," I said, taking his hand and leading him into the house.

We weaved through the small groups of people gathered around the inside heaters and headed for the stairs. I assumed that in a house this size there was going to be a guest room with an en suite bathroom, and I was right. Down the end of the hall to the right was a barely-decorated room with unisexual coloured curtains and bedspread. I set Mike down on the bed and went to the bathroom, flipping on the light. I gathered some tissues, a small glass of water and discovered some aftershave in the medicine cabinet.

I went back to the bedroom and set the things down on the dresser. Mike's head had drooped down and he appeared to be sleeping while sitting up. I shook him lightly and his head snapped up. He looked a little dazed.

"Bella?" he asked sleepily.

"I'm here," I said gently. "Lift your head a bit."

He did as he was told, so I reached over and dampened a tissue. Then I brought it back to his face and cleaned him up a bit. When that was done, I dabbed on a little aftershave. I remembered that I'd seen a comb in the bathroom, so I went and got it, then combed Mike's hair. The next thing I fixed was his vest. I undid it, straightened his shirt and then did the buttons up in the right holes. Mike was starting to come around a little more as I fiddled with his tie. It was damn near impossible to get right.

"…didn't mean to say it," he said. Most of his sentences were disjointed and varied in volume, so I just learned to agree with them.

"Uh huh," I said mindlessly.

His head suddenly snapped up, making me start. "Keep still," I said. "I'm not done yet."

"You do?"

I rolled my eyes, getting sick of his ramblings. "Yes, Mike. Hold still."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm." I finally fixed the tie. "Done!" I said, leaning back on my knees to stand up.

But Mike, apparently, didn't want me to get up. He put his hands on my shoulders and my knees buckled under me, making me fall back on the ground. I looked up at him with a mixture of shock and irritation on my face.

"Mike, settle down. You owe me one for this." I tried to get up again, but fell back as Mike slid onto his knees from the bed and held my shoulders in place.

"Bella," he said, slurring the simplest of words. "I'm so sorry. I never meant to. You were just, and I was just, I mean… I love you! Don't you love me?"

I was starting to feel scared. He had a crazed look on his face, and my heart was beating frantically for all the wrong reasons.

"We broke up, Mike. It's over," I said, trying to be subtle as I slid backwards.

Mike slid further toward me to make up for the distance. I gathered a handful of my dress and tried to untangle my feet so I could make a break for it.

"But I love you," he said, becoming more insistent.

I tried to find some kind of medium. "Yes, I know Mike. But that time has passed. We're not right for each other. It's time to move on."

"I don't want to move on!" he very nearly shouted, and I hoped like anything that someone heard it downstairs. "I want _you_!"

He was unreasonably close now; I could smell the reeking alcohol on his breath. I was too scared to make any sudden movements. He may have been drunk, but he was still stronger than me.

"No, you-" I started to say, but was forcefully cut off.

Mike trapped my head in his hands and kissed me roughly. I tried to shake my head to get him off but his grip on me tightened and I winced at the pain. The roots of my hair were being torn out and it was horrible. I kept my lips firmly closed, and though he was trying to make me open them, I wouldn't. He smelled like an ashtray that'd drowned in stale alcohol weeks before. A frightened tear slipped down my cheek, and I prayed as hard as I could, _please let someone come in._

But they didn't.

He stood up and pulled me with him, not loosening his vice-like grip on my head. One of Mike's hands stayed in my hair, tearing it more. The other dropped down and started trying to try and find the zipper along the side of my dress. I stepped back, trying to get my body as far from his wandering hands as possible. I was immeasurably glad that the zipper was on the other side. I started smacking his chest with my fists, but I was so scared that the punches were pathetically weak. Mike noticed where I was moving and mistook my fear for me wanting him to get across the room. He stepped forward a few times and I suddenly felt a gush of air leave my lungs as he shoved me angrily against the wall.

This made things worse for several reasons.

First, my hands were now trapped between his body and mine where I'd been trying to push him away. Second, he'd planted his feet either side of mine to prevent any prospect defensive-kneeing action. Thirdly, when I'd gasped, my mouth had opened for a millisecond, but that was all it took.

Mike's tongue was in, and I was so close to vomiting that my stomach actually felt like a washing machine in motion. I wondered if he would get off me if I threw up on him. More tears were slipping down my cheeks. Suddenly, I got inspired – for want of a better word – and did something both disgusting and hopefully painful.

Unfortunately, Mike was still trying to get an oral response from me. Fortunately, I was smart enough to know that biting your tongue – or having your tongue bitten – was especially excruciating. So that was what I did.

"OW!" he yelled, staggering backward and one hand flying to his mouth. When he'd released me I'd all but fallen to the ground again. He brought his fingers away from his lips and I saw that he was bleeding. He looked at me angrily, and I knew that if I didn't run now, I wasn't going to escape at all.

I turned for the door, but forgot to hitch up my long dress. I went flying to the ground immediately, and moaned as my jaw smashed against the carpet. Nothing was broken, as far as I could tell, but that was the least of my problems.

"I love you, Bella," he said angrily, insistently, rolling me over.

He sat down on my thighs, and I couldn't move my legs. He grabbed one of my flailing arms and held it above my head, then snatched the other and did the same. I cried openly now.

"Get off!" I cried, trying to sound angry but just sounding pathetic, even to my own ears. I tried to wriggle out from under him, but there was no escape. Nothing, and no one, not even Alice or Hercules, would be able to escape this scenario with the contrast of strength so great.

But then, I realised something I was very good at.

"HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!" I shrieked; loud enough for China to hear. Mike immediately 'shhhhhh!'d at me and clamped his hand over my mouth, but it was too late. For him, anyway.

"BELLA?!" Alice's panicked voice came from down the hall. I tried to yell back but Mike's hand was in the way. He didn't look even half as scared as I felt. A normally useless memory came to mind, but it was quite useful right now.

In primary school, when someone would try and hush you with their hand, if you licked their palm they'd automatically remove it because it felt weird. But I thought this situation called for more dramatic circumstances. So I opened my mouth, and Mike's firmly pressed hand immediately fell between my open teeth. I bit down, hard, and didn't let go when he yelled out in pain and tried to pull his hand away.

But then I did let go, and he yanked his hand back. I screamed bloody murder.

"ALICE! HELP ME! AAAAAAAAAALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!" Then I screamed at the top of my lungs like I was being murdered, which wasn't too far from the fact.

"EMMETT! SAM! GET UP HERE NOW!" Alice's glorious voice came from the hallway, and it was getting louder with every step she took.

Mike was too scared to move, and I was too scared to draw attention to myself anymore. We both stared at the door for a long second before it burst open, Alice standing in front of two of the best-dressed and more murderous looking giants I've ever seen.

Alice's voice was venomous. "_Get him._"

Sam and Emmett leapt forward and yanked Mike off of me like he was a rag doll. I spluttered with happiness, but couldn't control myself enough to get up. Alice's voice was a murmur in the background, but then she was by my side, patting my hair from my face and mumbling comforting words.

"It's alright; he's gone now, he's not coming back. You're safe, you're with me. Bella, look at me. Look at me! It's me, Alice. No Mike, just Alice."

She kept mumbling words and stroking my hair from my face while I spluttered on the floor. I managed to pull myself up so I was sitting, leaning against Alice's side. Soon after, I ran out of tears and was hiccoughing dryly. Alice helped me up and led me to the bed where I could sit down.

"Did he hurt you?" she asked me. I knew that she knew he'd hurt me, but I also knew what _kind_ of 'hurt' she meant.

"No."

"No?"

"No. The zipper, he couldn't find it." I took a great breath in, and let it out. It was a little easier to think then.

"Are you okay?" She reached over and grabbed a tissue from the box, then started to clear up my face.

"I'm okay," I confirmed. I supposed I was in some kind of shock, but if it _was_ shock, I was constantly in shock. "Sam's here?" I asked, remembering Alice's murderous screams in the hall.

"Yes. They all are." She kept dabbing at my face. I was silent while she cleaned me up. "Do you want to go back out?"

I hesitated. "Will Mike be out there?"

Alice scoffed. "I highly doubt he'll be _conscious_ for long."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

I took a great breath and closed my eyes as Alice dabbed at the mascara. "If there's no Mike, then I'll be out there. But clean me up, please?" I shifted on the bed and started nervously flattening my dress. It was ridiculous that all I could think about after almost being seriously sexually assaulted was the fact that Edward was here.

"Wait here," she said. She turned to go, but I clutched to her arm.

"Don't leave me on my own!" I cried almost hysterically.

"Right, sorry. Come for a walk, Bella." She helped me up, and put her arm around my waist as we headed back toward the stairs.

"Where are we going?" I looked around at the bright lights, and suddenly everything was very sharp in focus. Adrenaline pumped in my ears, but I was sure it was just the side effects, and that there was nothing to be scared of now.

Alice stopped in front of one of the doors which looked exactly the same as the others to me, but apparently she was sure it was the right one, because she pushed it open without hesitation.

Inside, it was definitely a girl's room. The doona was a snowy white colour, and there were tasteful posters on the walls. The carpet was mint green, and many of the decorations – lamps, pillow cases, the computer monitor – were blood red. I liked it, and I guessed that it must be Rosalie's room.

"What are we doing?" I asked as Alice sat me down at a desk with a mirror in front of it.

"Just sit still. I'm fixing you up."

She dug around in a few drawers and produced a few magical items of makeup. She was done in five minutes, and I saw myself in the mirror. I looked like I had when we'd arrived, just with slightly more blood-shot eyes.

"Are you still alright to get back out there?" she looked genuinely concerned for me, and I loved her for it. I stood up and gave her a big hug.

"Thanks, Alice."

She knew I meant 'thanks' for more than just the makeup.

"Any time." She hugged me back tightly. "Ready to rock?"

"Yep. Let's go."

So we left Rose's room after Alice replaced the cosmetics, and went back downstairs. Nothing had really changed, other than the fact that there were a few extra people there, all of them with coppery-Indian skin. Except for one.

"Edward!" I called from the stairs, and thought I'd have thought he wouldn't have heard me over the noise; he turned straight to where I was like it was staged. He waved, then started to push through the crowd. I darted down the stairs and Alice laughed from behind me.

"I've never known someone to recover so quickly, Bella," she called sarcastically over my shoulder. "Must be one hell of a healing remedy, eh?"

I ignored her and jumped the last step into Edward's hug. I felt stupidly elated to know he was waiting to catch me.

"Hey," he said happily in my ear to avoid shouting. A shiver ran down my spine at the smooth sound.

"Hey," I returned, looking up at him.

Edward, like every other guy here tonight, was wearing a tuxedo. It wasn't much different to everyone else's but Edward made it look absolutely perfect. I was slightly envious as his constantly flawless appearance, and a little saddened when I thought how plain I must look beside him all the time.

"How are you?" he asked me. It was innocent enough, but something in me was set off.

I ignored the question and looked at him, then asked something which was possibly very stupid. "Can I talk to you, alone?"

He looked puzzled for a moment, but covered it almost immediately. "Okay." He looked around. "This way," he said, leading me through the crowd to a garden.

Something pulled at the edges of my memories, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. _Garden, garden…_

We pushed through some undergrowth, then found ourselves at the edge of a dark fishpond. There were a few lights shining into the murky depths, illuminating the occasional orange fish that crossed its path.

"What's up?" Edward said, prompting me. I realised I was the one that had initiated this little private moment.

I looked at him across the small space between us, his lovely face almost glowing in the moonlight. I felt ugly and meek just looking at him. I looked down and tried to gather my thoughts. Unconsciously, I shivered.

"Are you cold?" Edward said, but it didn't matter what my answer was. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around my shoulders, then leaned closer to me and wrapped his arms around me as well. I felt much warmer, straight away.

"Thanks."

"Any time." We sat in silence for a moment. I watched the fish, and Edward was staring at something too because from the corner of my eye I could see that his face wasn't moving. "So…" he prompted me again, and I nearly hit myself in the head for not answering his question, again.

"Sorry, forgot," I said, smiling at him. He smiled back and I almost lost my train of thought. "Something kind of bad happened to me before."

"What?"

_He's so caring…_

So I told him what happened between me and Mike, but skipped the details. Nevertheless, Edward was furious.

"Where is he?" he said threateningly. "I'll turn his face into a potato mash. What a sick bastard!"

"No, Edward," I said, catching his hand as he stood. His fists were clenching and unclenching by his sides, the moonlit veins standing out. "He's not worth it."

Edward turned back to me and looked furious. "He _is_ worth it, Bella, because anyone that hurts you deserves to have their face rearranged. And I would love to be the one to do it."

I pulled him down beside me, afraid that he was going to leave me here, alone again.

"I don't even know where he is. And I don't want you to get mixed up in this. This is _my_ problem, Edward."

He sat down beside me and huffed, resigning to my cause. "But you know I would take him down, the moment you ask me to, right?"

I smiled, and the expression was natural. _I never have to force anything around Edward…_ "I know."

He looked at my face and reached out to touch my temple. I flinched slightly, sure that there was a bruise coming up. His eyes were instantly ablaze with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I assured him. He put his other hand to my face, holding gently just under my jaw line. _I'm always fine when you're around,_ I thought; knowing just how true that really was. "Just don't leave me," I said quietly, and Edward's touch gently pressed onto my skin.

My heart kicked up a marching band-on-ecstasy tune, but I remained silent. There was feeling in the air that I couldn't explain, yet it was so obvious that there was no way Edward could misread it.

"Was there anything else?" he breathed. I realised that what was hanging in the air was the question I was desperate to ask, but wasn't game enough to.

I hesitated, something I should have learnt not to do around Edward or Alice because they could read me like a book.

"Just say it," Edward whispered kindly. "It can't be that bad."

_Yes, it can,_ I thought to myself.

"Well, I, um, I don't know how to say this." I looked at my hands and started twisting them together. He sensed something in my hesitance and slowly moved his hands away from my face. The movement was so slow that my lungs were screaming for air by the time his steady palms came to rest on his knees.

I sniffed, my mind scrambling for the perfect words. My hands started to wind so quickly around each other that I was afraid I was going to literally tie them in knots before I could regain my voice.

Edward looked down too, and stopped my fidgeting by clasping both of my hands in his big warm ones. I looked up at him, and was completely frozen by his gaze. He didn't look away either. I don't quite understand how it happened, but one second we were just looking at each other, Edward's hand covering my own, and then our faces were less than an inch apart.

I swallowed, knowing that this moment was pivotal. Turn away, and it will never be more than friends. Don't turn away, and you put your heart on that very breakable line.

"Bella," he whispered, his eyes darting from my eyes to my mouth and back again.

I licked my lips nervously. "Yes?"

That seemed to be his snapping point. He leaned down and touched his lips to mine so lightly that if it weren't for the spark that I felt when his skin just grazed mine, I'd not have noticed it. But it was impossible to not notice anything about Edward. I leaned very slightly closer to him, and the pressure between our mouths was greater.

Whatever part of me that controlled the more outgoing side of my mind took over again. My hands slipped out from under Edward's jacket and slid up the front of his torso, resting on his shoulders for a second. I pulled him toward me, and he responded accordingly. His lips moved with mine so perfectly that this may have well been our millionth kiss. My heart was pushing against my ribs, trying to get to Edward on its own. Edward's hands snaked under the jacket still clinging to my shoulders and wrapped around my lower back, pulling me closer to him.

Then, he lifted me up to stand on my own two feet as he did the same. He didn't break the kiss, and I wasn't in the mindset to question his motives, so I just went with it. His hands slid around to my back and pulled my completely against him, and I understood why he'd moved me.

My hands shifted to his head, ruffling through his ungelled-but-perfect hair. My elbows were resting on his shoulders, and every possible part of my torso was being held firmly against him by his strong arms.

By now, I was running out of air. If only I didn't need to breathe. That would be brilliant. But then, the survival instinct kicked in, and I had to pull back slightly. I was panting and my heart was panting too.

"You look lovely, by the way," he said, setting me back down. I hadn't realised that my feet were dangling just above the ground.

I blushed and looked at my feet. "You too."

"Thanks." He was smiling at me, I knew it. I could hear it in his voice.

I cleared my throat, feeling self-conscious again, and hoped that Edward wasn't about to announce that he had to go, 'you know, I have an early morning tomorrow'…

But he didn't. And the silence was comfortable, but I still felt the need to break it. My doubts were starting to creep in and I was being too accommodating to them. Then, suddenly, I remembered why a garden during a party had seemed so familiar.

"Rose and Emmett got together like this, you know."

Edward looked incredibly puzzled. "Huh?"

"Emmett and Rosalie. They kissed at party, in the garden, then they started going out a few days later." I looked down and started playing with my hands. One of my feet was tapping on the ground from nervousness. I tried to mentally stop it but the message wouldn't go through.

Edward didn't say anything, so I looked at him. He was looking away from me, hiding his face. I raised my hand and touched his shoulder. He half twisted his head back to me, and I could see from just his profile that there was torture behind his eyes.

"What?" I whispered, feeling oddly afraid. "What's wrong?"

He closed his eyes, and I knew he was seeing more than just the darkness behind his eyelids. He was silent for ten painful seconds before he spoke.

"What does this make us, now?" he asked me, boring into my brown eyes with his calculating green ones.

I understood what he meant, and why he had whispered. _He doesn't want me like I want him._ The words echoed in my head. _No one will ever want me._

I don't know why I got up. I don't know why I held up my dress and ran when I felt the tears falling down my cheeks. I'd have thought that my emotions of unhappiness would have been all dried up, but no, there was always a fresh supply for me. I heard Edward call my name from behind me as I shoved my way into a slightly overgrown path. I realised that I was going a way different to the one we had arrived, but I didn't care. Besides, turning back now to get to the party meant seeing people – let alone having to face Edward again. I could hear him pushing through the bushes behind me, still calling my name, but it just made me run faster. Despite this, his voice was getting closer and closer.

The memory of him running at Athletics Day came to mind, and I realised I had about five seconds to choose an action before he was sure to catch me.

First, I could stop and face him. I would have to try and think of a reasonable excuse as to why I had run – and since I didn't have one, I'd just make even more of a fool of myself. He would probably think I was an unstable weirdo and leave me standing in the middle of prickly bushes, taking his warm jacket with him. I realised suddenly that I was still wearing it, and threw it off my shoulders angrily, sobbing with the effort. More tears patterned down my cheeks and splashed onto my shoulders.

Second, I could try and outrun him, but that would end up bring a more embarrassing scenario than option one.

Thirdly I could act like a complete child and try and hide from him. By some kind fall of fate, maybe he wouldn't find me. I'd be able to shiver and cry in silence until I was sure everyone else had left, then reappear beside Alice's car with one hell of a cold added to my list of bad things. But at least I wouldn't have to face Edward again. But if I _were_ caught? Hello to a hermit lifestyle for the rest of my life.

I took a quick glance over my shoulder, and could see Edward's head bobbing behind me. I took a sharp turn to the right, then another, and jumped behind a big oleander plant. The smell was lovely, but I knew that if I touched a flower and then my mouth, I was going to die a fairly painful death. That could be Plan Z – last resort.

I tried to control my ragged breathing as I waited for Edward's searching form to appear. He was there in two seconds, stopping dead when he realised I was gone. I looked up, terrified that he was going to find me, and watched as his face turned from side to side.

"Bella, come back," he said gently, like he knew I wasn't far away.

I squeezed my eyes closed and slowly raised my hand to hold it over my mouth. All my self control was put into not screaming with the twisting pain that my heart was causing me.

There was a shuffle of feet on the other side of the bush, then Edward was gone. His painful absence screamed its presence in my head. There was a ringing in my ears, and I was frozen to the spot for a good five minutes, waiting for him to come back and discover my now shivering, crying, and cold form. I curled up tighter on the ground.

But soon the ringing faded and my heart regained a usual pace. I slowly stood up, trying not to make any noise. I felt like a fugitive rising from behind a pile of wheat bags, hands raised in defeat, hoping that the enemy were kind enough to allow me to fully stand before shooting me back to the ground.

But no one shot me, and there were no wheat bags. Just an oleander bush, its white petals fluttering in the typical Forks breeze. I looked up and wondered how far this clear plastic tent extended across Jasper's property.

I stepped carefully around the poisonous plant and steadied myself. I looked around, then retraced my steps until I was on the more visible path. I knew that if I turned to the left, I would find myself back at the pond. Edward might have gone back there, and I didn't fancy seeing him again tonight, so I turned to the right.

I'd expected the path to become more difficult to navigate the farther I went in, but instead it became clearer. Some lights ahead became brighter, and I was soon close enough to push through the remaining plants and be bathed in the yellowish glow. Ahead of me I could see one part of the huge house, great glass doors reflecting the twinkling lights that Rosalie or Jasper had set up. There were candles on the low-rise wall surrounding the garden, making it all look extremely romantic. I'd have thought it was an accident of decoration until some white and red roses caught my eye. They were sitting in a tall vase in the middle of a table with two chairs, with more candles surrounding the bouquet. Just as my hands were raised to separate the last of the greenery, I heard voices. I froze on the spot, my eyes searching for the sources of the noise.

Some figures emerged from the shadows on the other side of the pavement. I dropped my hands and crouched down, luckily making no noise. The two people continued on as though their moment was completely private.

It was a guy and a girl. The guy, obviously, was wearing a tuxedo. The girl was wearing a long white dress with tatters of gold and black swishing as she walked. _Alice?!_

Once I'd recognised them, their voices were easier to understand.

Alice was walking three paces in front of Jasper, holding her dress up angrily.

"What do you want, Jasper?"

She turned to him and watched with narrowed eyes as he passed her and sat down on a bench. He waved a hand beside him, inviting her to sit. She ignored him.

Jasper sighed. "I wanted to talk to you."

"You don't usually seem to have a problem with _talking_ to me when other people are around."

"Other people usually aren't trying to get under your skirt."

"He was _not!_ Besides, who would care if he did want to get under my skirt? _No one!_ You've got no right sticking your nose into other people's business. Now, what do you want?" She took a step toward him, but didn't relax her defensive position. Her advance was more of a threat than an interested gesture.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Yes, I'd gathered that."

"_Alone._"

"_What for?!_"

Jasper looked down at his hands, folding them loosely between his knees. I could tell he was nervous, and I had a pretty good guess as to why.

He sighed, and looked up at Alice, who was still glaring at him.

"I wanted to tell you something, but I wasn't sure what to say. And I'm still not." He paused, trying to find the words. "Despite everything I do, Alice," I saw Alice tense infinitesimally, "I do care for you."

She then calmed slightly, but her guard was still in full function. "You _care_ for me?! Is that why you think it's funny to call me names and take my things at every opportunity? Is that why you've always been the source of rumours and nasty stories about what I do after I've eaten my lunch? Because if that's how you _care_ for someone, Jasper Whitlock, I'd hate to see what you do when you _don't like someone._"

She stared at him, hands clenched into fists at her sides. She looked like she wanted to take the two steps necessary to kick the living insult out of him, but her self control was currently maintained. Jasper looked shocked and speechless on the bench, but there was some other kind of expression contained in his face.

"I know I'm useless at this, Alice."

Alice's breathing slowly calmed down, and soon she relaxed her position from being an attacker to being an observer. She folded her arms and tapped her long fingernails on her elbow.

"Yeah, you are."

Jasper stood up and ran a hand through his hair. He looked away from Alice, then back to her. He was looking up at the sky when he started his sentence, but looked back at Alice by the time he'd finished it.

"Do you hate me?"

Alice looked shocked. Her fingers froze on her elbow and she withdrew ever so slightly.

"Yes." She was sure in her answer. But she looked like she regretted that fact.

_Just tell her, just tell her, just tell her…_

"Alice," Jasper said. She looked at him warily. He turned to her, but didn't move from his spot. "I'm sorry for everything I've ever done to hurt you. I'm sorry for calling you Anna. I'm sorry for starting rumours. I'm sorry for stealing your gym clothes last year. I'm sorry for taking your books and copying your work when you weren't looking. I'm sorry for laughing when you were embarrassed; for being the cause of your embarrassment." He took a great breath and looked down. "I'm sorry that I only knew how to insult you and not to just talk to you."

He looked up from his feet, but Alice remained unmoving. He shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk away.

"Have a nice night," he said over his shoulder.

Alice was frozen for another second, then she swayed on the spot. I could see the indecision in her eyes. _Go for it,_ I encouraged in my head.

She swayed again, and then took a step forward. "Wait," she called across the small space. Jasper stopped walking, but didn't turn back. Alice swallowed largely. "I…I forgive you."

There was dead silence in the air. I realised I wasn't breathing, but didn't dare ruin the moment. Jasper turned back to Alice, taking a millennium to be completely facing her. Alice swallowed again.

"You do?"

"Yes."

Jasper just blinked, then he had closed the space between him and Alice in three long strides. Alice watched him with a small smile on her lips as he came closer, then he swept her up like an ice-skater and spun her around. She leaned down and kissed him, and he kissed her back. I could tell that both of them had been waiting a long time to do that. Jasper was making it incredibly sweet by continuing to slowly turn Alice, his muscles showing no sign of stress. I almost squealed with happiness at the both of them.

Jasper finally set Alice down, but didn't remove his hands from her waist. I got the feeling that he wasn't going to let go of her for a long time; physically or emotionally. They stared at each other tenderly for a minute, then Jasper reached into his pants pocket. He pulled out a long, thin box. Alice looked curiously at it.

Suddenly, Jasper was down on one knee in front of her, his hand taking her tiny palms in his. I knew he wasn't going to propose to her, but my heart still pushed against my ribs to try and hear his next words.

"Alice Brandon, will you be my girlfriend?"

Alice squealed with delight and nodded furiously. She knelt down to kiss him, but he raised the box to her first. She looked at it, then to him, and he nodded his encouragement. She carefully reached for it, and stayed kneeling in front of him as she opened it.

I gasped from my hiding place as she pulled out a glittering silver chain. It was sparkling so much that I swore Jasper had kidnapped the absent stars of the night and had woven them into a piece of jewellery. Alice spluttered happily as she looked at it. Jasper took it from her and put it around her neck. Alice raised a hand and touched something hanging from the chain. I couldn't see what it was from here, but it was shining with at least one blood-red ruby.

"Thankyou," she said, breathless.

Jasper smiled and lifted her to her feet. "I've had that for ages. I'm sorry if I was a bit sudden just now, but I really have wanted you for such a long time."

Alice smiled and fiddled with her new necklace. "That's okay. I'm not really one for pretences, you know."

"Yeah. I know."

Alice giggled happily and put an arm around his neck, pulling his tall frame down to kiss her. It was only the second kiss of their lives, yet they looked like it was a perfectly choreographed scene from a romantic film. The broke apart then, and Jasper reached down to take Alice's hand in his. She smiled and danced along beside him as they walked back the way they came, both of them wearing beautiful, identical smiles.

* * *

**Well... that was the masquerade ball... you'll find out what happens next in the following chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought!**

**--READ ME-- I _know_ I'll be getting abusive reviews (even if they're joking) about Bella and Edward not getting together _again_... so here's what I have to offer in my defence:**

**1. When they _do_ get together it's so much sweeter than that moment was;**

**2. Bella pulled away and ran because she's been rejected a fair bit by that boy - whether it was intentional or not - and for it to happen again really _did_ _hurt;_**

**3. When Bella said "This was how Emmett and Rose got together", Edward was reminded of his last girlfriend. That's why he looked away. That's why he was apprehensive when she mentioned the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' scenario;**

**4. Edward was still undecided as to whether he was going to actually get together officially with Bella when they kissed - but he made his decision when she started to run. That's why he followed her.**

**I really hope you all liked the chapter, despite the bad-ness of Mike and the bad-ness of Edward.**

**Review?**

**-Shaps**


	26. Plans

**Wow, you guys are seriously impressive! And my ego is being inflated more and more by the chapter-review load... aww. By the by, sorry if I've been a little snappish in my author's notes for the past three or so chapters, I was having a fairly sleep-deprived time. Fun... not.**

**Anyhoo, the reviewers are:**

**margaritama, jake.n.ash.n.edward, Ghosts in the Snow, neatospeedo, ForeverWasteAway, PowerSurge365, HarvestEclipse31, Vampires-Rock4eva, sweet333249, Intoxicated By His Presence, laibballfan, 4theluvofMary, maryellen, musicormisery4105, bedwardforever, LookAfterMyHeart, edwardsfavouriteflavour, twilightismylife140, Esaria, sunshine4047, books and bojangles, Music ADD, joellen818, jacob is the new black, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, StarryNightT, Rhiannon Summer, In The Life Of Sara's, smile for the paparazzi, twilightaddict26, Sbieleski, Michelle62092, lily, Luckybugg, FrEvrNvrLasts, LivforLove, x-aly-x, okiegirlforever, DestanyRose, halokat, 143twilighter, Bethany Knight, FutureMrs.Cullen, babygirljen6, sprinter1, Fanpire, VampyChick95, Jade.**

**Special Mentions:**

**Ghosts in the Snow: Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I don't know how I missed putting your name up in the reviewer's list! I went back and added them in just after I read your review. Sorry again, hope you still love me :-)**

**ForeverWasteAway: Hahaha, fruit baskets. That's gold! Thanks for your compliments about the whole Jasper/Alice dynamic - that was the storyline that came into my head firstly with this story, then the Edward/Bella thing developed around it... as weird as that sounds. :-)**

**PowerSurge365: Oh, thankyou for your compliments! And thanks for reviewing too :-D**

**HarvestEclipse31: Lol, this story is tre dramatic, isn't it? I hope I haven't overdone it though. Let me know if I have? Thanks. Emmett and Sam pretty much gave Mike what he deserved... but Edward was the one who did the real damage... you'll find _that_ little delicious piece of information out a little later on though!**

**twilightismylife140: Woo! I'm so glad that you're on the same page as I am with the whole cliche getting-together thing with Alice and Jasper. Cos Alice is far too hot-headed to just fall for him like _that_ -snaps fingers-. Hell, she hesitated _twice!_ And about the parents thing - I don't think there'll be much more to do with either of their parents. But perhaps in the sequal, if there is a sequal.**

**Esaria: Ahh!! An observant one! You're one of only two people who actually picked up on that little accidental tid-bit. I was reading through my final chapters for this story to make sure I didn't leave any loose ends and somehow that part of the next chapter came out. Accidentally. I'm dreadfully sorry if I ruined anything for you for this chapter. But well done on picking up on it!**

**sunshine4047: Yeah, I wasn't too pleased when I was writing the Mike/Bella thing in the last chapter. Sickened, actually. But it was necessary for the storyline. Bella's not going to tell Alice about the whole accidental spying-on-her thing, she'll just pretend she didn't know. But that part isn't directly dealt with in the story anyway - what would have occured conversationally was so obvious that it didn't need to be said.**

**books and bojangles: Ah yes, the oleander. I read a book called 'White Oleander'. Brilliant stuff. And then it was mentioned in a book I had to read for school like a week later... isn't it weird how that happens? Anyway. I like that fate for Mike! And with the Alice/Jasper thing; it had been coming for a while. But there were almost invisible signs pointing in that direction - remember the bit in the Carnival chapter? With the Athletics Day, and Jasper was hitting on Alice and Leah - but he copped a slap across the face? And the comment Jacob made was something like, "he's never going to get anywhere with dodgy pickup lines". But I knew you guys were expecting it at some point. I loved Alice's dress in that too... sigh. I'm rambling. Sorry.**

**joellen818: That's a good idea - The Makeover - but I think it's a little overdone in fanfics. I'll leave it for another time, yeah? But thanks for the suggestion! :-D**

**StarryNightT: Hahahahahahahahahahahahah... your review was _awesome!_ I was laughing for ages after that... hahaha. Great work! You'd be a fabulous comedy Beta/writer!**

**Rhiannon Summer: AHHH!! I'm so excited... BREAKING DAWN!! WOOO!!**

**smile for the paparazzi: ...or, will there be letters at all?**

**okiegirlforever: Ahh!! An observant one! You're one of only two people who actually picked up on that little accidental tid-bit. I was reading through my final chapters for this story to make sure I didn't leave any loose ends and somehow that part of the next chapter came out. Accidentally. I'm dreadfully sorry if I ruined anything for you for this chapter. But well done on picking up on it!**

**Fanpire: Aww, thanks sweetie... that was such an ego-inflating review lol but I love you for it! Love your pen name, by the way :-D**

**Jade: JADE! DARLING!! Where have you been, man? Your reviews are the sunshine of my life... the cheese to a pizza... the fizz to a Coke! My gosh! Haha. See you tomorrow darl ;-)**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Plans**

* * *

Monday had rolled around again, annoyingly quickly. Alice was sitting beside me in gym, and on her other side was the most recent addition to my tight-knit life. He was sitting still but had a smile on his face which grew every time he took a glance from the corner of his eye at the girl beside him. One of Alice's hands was fiddling with the necklace around her neck – the one which hadn't left her immediate vicinity since Saturday night.

"So I hope you've all made a start on your assignments…" Coach Clapp said jovially from the floor of the gym.

I had tuned out well over twenty-five minutes ago; and the words that leaked into my ears so far were repetitive ones of an assignment that we as a class had already handed up. Coach Clapp was so easily distracted.

Currently my mind was overflowing with memories and thoughts – almost all of them to do with my weekend. I thought back to the garden, where I'd witnessed Alice and Jasper's incredible unison.

Once I was sure the two of them weren't going to reappear from around the side of the house, I'd revealed myself from my hiding place and dashed through the shadows around the border of the house. Eventually I saw something I recognised. The path Alice and I had made our entrance by was just ahead of me, and this was the only way I knew of to get to the parking lot. Choosing to abandon any possible sneaky side-stepping options, I hitched up my now filthy dress and made a sprint for the stairs. I only fell once, and when I did, the security guard closest to me had reactions quick enough to stop my face meeting the ground.

I'd mumbled my thanks, and he'd grunted his reply. I kept my head down and tried to be subtle as I headed up the stairs and then saw Alice's Porsche. I headed to the passenger side and yanked at the handle, but it was locked. I looked around to see if Alice was anywhere to be seen; but no suck luck ever impeded my dark moments. Thinking that I was going to freeze, I spun on my heel to see if anyone I knew was in the parking lot and willing to give me a ride home.

Just then, I heard the sound of a car door opening. I darted around the front of the yellow bonnet and was nearly blinded by the bright interior light a few cars back. I didn't recognise the vehicle, but recognised the tall Indian frame that was leaning inside it.

"Jacob," I said, trying to sound calm as I approached him.

Jake turned around, ducking his head from smacking it on the top of the four wheeled drive he was in. His initial expression was curiosity as to who had called his name, but it immediately changed to shock when he took in my appearance. I guessed that I was now the one who looked like a dead, runaway bride, not Alice.

"Jesus Bella, what happened?" He stood up straight and stepped forward to put his arm around my waist. I hoped that this damsel in distress thing wasn't everlasting.

I sniffed and wiped my nose on the back of my hand as Jacob helped me into the passenger seat of his car. "I've had a bad night," I said, and allowed him to stuff the trailing side of my dress in beside me before he closed the door. He could tell that I wasn't keen on staying at the party any longer.

He got in the driver seat and started up the engine. "I'll tell Alice you felt sick when I get back. But you can't stay here; you'll catch cold and then probably end up like an ice block before midnight."

At mention of the time, my eyes searched the dash for the digital numbers. They were there, announcing the near-exact time of my demise. 11:37pm. I sighed and looked at the rest of the dash, my eyes searching for the heating controls. It was a moment before I realised Jake's hand was flashing expertly around the dials and little buttons, doing all the work for me. I felt a light gush of warm air from the nearest vent, and I instinctively held up my hand to it. It felt nice on my wintry fingers.

"New car?" I asked, wondering where his Rabbit was.

He looked across at me. "It's Jasper's. I'm borrowing it right now."

We were both silent for a minute.

"Thanks," I finally said. He knew what I meant.

He looked over and smiled at me. "What are friends for?"

I sniffed and smiled. My hand was wiping across my nose again in an instant. It was becoming difficult to find dry places along my wrist.

Jake pulled out from the paddock style parking lot and followed the waving's of the glow in the dark rods before we were heading down the bitumen toward Charlie's. We didn't say anything along the way, but I think Jake had a fairly good idea of what had happened. He was just smarter than most, and knew not to ask me about it. For that I was grateful.

Soon Jake shut off the driving gear and let the car rumble while I gathered myself in the passenger seat. I wiped my eyes again, and took the tissues he offered. We were silent as we got out into the chilly air, and stayed wordless while we walked up the path to my house. Beside me I knew Jake was still there; both because of the sound of his car idling behind us and because I could feel his caring arm around my shoulders, warming me. If I were to trip on my way to the door, I knew he would be there to help me up before I could say his name.

But I got to my porch safely unscathed, and I hugged Jake before he left. I trusted him to inform Alice of my apparent 'sickness' when he got back to the party – not that she was going to have her head filled with worries for me tonight. There were plenty of other things, and people, that would be occupying her time.

--

My mind was sharply jerked back into the reality of gym class when Alice stood beside me. I looked up at her, wondering why she was standing, and then realised that everyone else was also making their way down to their next classes. I blinked twice, feeling dazed; before getting up and following the couple in front out to morning break.

I snapped out of it and the next thing I knew, I was sitting at a table in the cafeteria. Angela and Ben were on one side of me (they had apparently gotten together over the weekend too, but I hadn't been vocal enough to ask how yet), and Alice and Jasper were on my left. On the other side of the table was Rosalie and Emmett with Ally and Tyler beside them.

I felt like a girl completely surrounded.

Across the cafeteria were Jacob and James, both of them looking bored. Tanya and Lauren were tittering stupidly about something behind their hands, throwing someone across the room an amused look between giggles. I rolled my eyes. Victoria and Jessica were engaged in a conversation which looked more serious. Jessica was looking across the room at someone too, but Victoria's eyes rotated between staring at Jessica, staring at her tray with a drink on it, and staring at her boyfriend beside her. Jacob had folded his arms and had leaned his head backwards, the lump in his throat sticking out like he was five years older. The sleeves of his jumper bunched up around his biceps and I could see that his hands were balled into frustrated fists.

I looked back down at what was in front of me and started spinning the lid of my drink between my hands. It was getting horribly tedious by the time the first bell rang, and I happily sprung to my feet. No one seemed to notice my hasty departure. Each engaged in their own conversations, they seemed entirely unaware of the others around them let alone the ding-dinging bell overhead.

Third lesson on a Monday was… History. I could afford a little bludging time during History, I knew, so I decided to be unreasonably optimistic and pay a visit to the front office. Once I was out of the cafeteria doors, I took a turn to the right instead of one to the left. Conventional thoughts told me to go left – but I knew that I'd have to bow my head through the sheeting rain if I went the _student's_ way. This way would take me through a small hallway between teacher's offices and into the dry reception area.

A minute later, I was there, eyeing the slightly swaying plastic plants in the corner with distaste. I hated fake things.

Mrs Cope was again alone behind her desk. I approached her and was nervous because for the first time in weeks, I genuinely didn't know whether there was going to be a letter waiting for me.

"Mrs Cope?" I asked timidly, laying my folded hands on the arm-pit high greeting desk. The bustling woman looked up from her computer and squinted over the top of her reading glasses, her eyes adjusting and then calculating me.

"Hello, dear!" She jumped up and waddled forward to greet me like I was especially important. "You're here for your letter?"

_Why is everyone in a mood a million times better than me today?_

"Yes, please." My throat constricted very slightly as my sentence came out, but I was quite sure she hadn't heard it. _I'd_ barely even heard it.

She beamed at me. "I'll be right back."

It only took her a short moment to disappear through the doorway and into the short hall. I could hear her footsteps along the hall, and heard keys jangling along with a drawer sliding open. A moment later her steps repeated in reverse and she was standing in front of me, a wad of letters in her hands bound by black string.

She fiddled with the bundle once, flipping through the letters to find my name. Her brow furrowed when she got to the end without success. My stomach fell to my feet and I swallowed dryly to try and hold down the impeding choke. She pursed her lips when she got to the end of her second search of the letters. This time, she pulled a letter opener from a drawer and split open the bundle, keeping the wad stacked together with her big, manicured hands. She seemed to admit defeat when she finished her third search, looking up at me with an expression which passed for both confused and annoyed.

"I can't seem to find it," she said apologetically.

I just nodded and gave an offhand wave of my palm before walking away silently. I realised only once my hand was on the doorhandle that perhaps I had exited a little too quickly. The only emotion I emitted before disappearing through the heavy glass door was a dry sniff, but I covered it quickly by feigning a sneeze and dramatically wiping my sleeve across my face.

Tuesday passed without a letter being received. Mrs Cope gave me an even more pitiful look when I came back and asked for the second day in a row, and I didn't hear what she said in response to my request because her face had already told the answer.

My Wednesday flew by in a fuzz of sound. The blocked out feeling reminded me of having my ears stuffed with cotton balls. Loud noises felt like someone was twisting the cotton around in my ear canal.

My hope was well dried up by Wednesday evening. I didn't return to the front office on Thursday to post my reply, because there was none to be given. I'd taken Edward's silence as an additional rejection and couldn't bear to have my heart trampled again. I knew there would be no reply next Monday. It was easier to avoid thinking about him if I didn't have to write his name – not that I didn't think about him anyway. He was a constant sore spot in my thoughts.

"Bella? Bella! Snap out of it! You're up!"

Alice was standing in front of me, an arm raised and her hand shaking my shoulder. I blinked a few times.

"What?"

"It's your turn to serve!"

"What?"

"Just hit it."

She pushed me forward and shoved something round into my hands. It was a volley ball. _Fantastic_.

I looked down at the round ammunition, then to the team on the other side of the tall net. My team mates ahead of me were cowering openly – but even those to my sides had their hands half-raised in case my soon-to-be serve went completely off target. I chose to be quick in my injury of an undeserving team mate and punched the ball like I'd seen countless others do. My movement was accompanied by the unreasonable anger that'd been building in my chest for the past week, and somehow it sailed over the net.

The two people that it fell between were so shocked by the fact that the ball was coming toward them that neither of them made a move toward it. I smiled slightly when I realised that I'd just won a point for my team. I stepped to the side and expected someone else to fill my server's position, but no one did. Alice stepped over and gently pushed me back.

"Your serve again," she clarified, bending to pick up the returned volley ball before handing it to me. I looked around to my team mates to see if someone was going to save me by intervening. No one did.

So I swung my hand back and hit the ball with as much force as I had the first time. But of course, my luck didn't hold. I cringed in anticipation as it sailed toward a swinging blonde ponytail in front of me.

This unsuspecting girl had unwisely turned away at the last second and was now flying toward the ground as my angry hit slammed her in the back of the head. Someone caught her before she hit the floor, however, and I was immediately beet-red to see Lauren Mallory getting up.

She turned back and sneered at me. "Nice shot," she snapped. She didn't seem too angry with me, but I could see from the malice behind her eyes that she knew she didn't need to be verbally abusive to make me feel useless and unwanted. I looked down at my feet and shuffled from side to side, glad that I was now going to be out of the spotlight.

But I'd not been forgotten by my best friend. "It was a good shot, Bella," she said kindly to me, patting my shoulder. She raised her head and said a little louder in Lauren's direction; "It's just unlucky Lauren wasn't facing you. Then she might have been hit in her mug of a face and gotten a free nose job. God knows she needs it."

Intensely mortified, I kept my eyes down. I could sense Lauren's evil stare on me but tried to ignore it. Coach Clapp cleared his throat loudly to distract from the brewing argument.

"Who's serving next for the red team?" There was a trace of demand in his voice. I was grateful for the focus being shifted away from me, and jerked my head up to give Alice a 'thankyou' look. She nodded her silent reply of 'no problem' then turned to watch the game in case the ball came flying toward either of us.

--

Alice loyally stayed by my side for the rest of the day. The most interaction I saw between her and Jasper was a quick goodbye peck on the cheek – supplied by Alice – then she was gone from him and striding along beside me as I headed to my car. I noticed for the first time that the class spilling from the final lesson of the day didn't include a certain ex-boyfriend.

I turned to Alice. "Where's Mike?" I tried to sound disinterested; but Alice must have heard the nervous tone to my voice because she answered me more calmly than I'd have thought.

"I think he had a small mishap. His leg might have been accidentally broken when he… uh… fell. It happened some time on the weekend." She shifted her bag over her shoulder uncomfortably.

Normally I would have protested greatly to such an injury being almost certainly inflicted by two of my best friends, but I chose not to. I just felt too tired and besides, Mike kind of deserved it. And as an added bonus, I wasn't going to have to deal with him for at least another month. By the tone of Alice's voice, his broken leg wasn't the only thing leaving him hospital-bed bound.

"Okay," I answered. My voice sounded strangely disinterested, like I'd deliberately detached my emotions from my mouth. Alice didn't comment, however, and I was glad to have the silence held when we reached my car.

Alice waited with me while I dug around in my jacket pocket for my keys. I finally felt the coldness of the metal and heard them jangle as I pulled them out. I was just twisting them roughly in the lock of my door when Alice cleared her throat.

I turned to her, expectant, hand frozen on the rusty truck door.

"Bella, I think you need a weekend with me and Angela again," she said warily, and I could tell she was bracing herself for any kind of reaction I might choose to come out with. She shifted from foot to foot, and I wondered why until my brain caught up with my thoughts and I realised I'd been silent for at least five heartbeats too long.

"I think that's a good idea," I agreed. A smile split over her face, but it didn't quite cover the worry her eyes held.

She patted my now sodden hand and smiled properly. I could tell her mind had just come across a delicious list of movies we could devour over the weekend, and probably an extensive shopping list containing many sugary and fattening snacks. Her smile was contagious.

"See you tomorrow, Bella!" She sounded considerably happier, and as I watched her dance off across the parking lot I noticed that her Porsche was no where to be seen. Instead, she disappeared into the passenger seat of a dark car I recognised from Saturday night.

I ignored the rain dripping down my collar as I watched Alice grinning from ear to ear, her excited face dripping water onto her jacket. She glanced from Jasper beside her to me before giving me a corny thumbs-up and shaking her head like a wet dog. Jasper cringed beside her and I realised she was getting water all over his expensive-looking car interior.

I felt amused by her cheekiness, but the greater part of me was still settled in the pit of my chest where the darkness seemed to live in varying degrees. Every bad thing listed off in my head as I climbed into my truck, and the temporary smile that Alice had inflicted upon me was gone by the time I turned onto the highway.

* * *

**Something I would really appreciate from you guys if you have the spare minutes, is to please read the _final_ chapter of a story called 'Getting The Advantage' that I wrote. The link's in my profile (obviously, it's my story...). Please review it? I know this'll sound cocky or whatever, but I think it's some of my best writing - and I'd like to know if I'm sorely mistaken or not. Thanks so much! And make sure you read the author's note at the beginning - if you don't plan on reading the whole story. If you do plan on reading it all, don't read the author's note :-)**

**Review?**

**-Shaps**


	27. Kidnapped

**Ok, this is the second to last chapter. It makes me sad to know it's all finishing... -sniff-**

**And the reviewers are:**

****

margaritama, GinnyBrown is here and now, Vampires-Rock4eva, LookAfterMyHeartt, HarvestEclipse31, sweet333249, manyafandom, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, laibballfan, Jennie (x4), Screams-At-Midnight, bedwardforever, Music ADD, 4theluvofMary, jennifier potter, In The Life Of Sara's, edwardsfavouriteflavour, sunshine4047, okiegirlforever, x-aly-x, musicormisery4105, dark-star.mystery, Rhiannon Summer, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, lia516, FrEvrNvrLasts, sporkchief (x2), StarryNightT, Luckybugg, babygirljen6, VampyChick95, Bethany Knight, twilightismylife140, FearLover, joellen818, IrisOfTheRainbow, maryellen, Fanpire, ReflectionsDistortedInTheSun (x4), 143twilighter, xx Phyre xx, OfficiallyDazzled, AtReYu-FrEaK, THISwayOUTofLIMBO, EdwardxBells4ever, Bellefire253, sassydolphin007, Bit-By-Edward, Fall Down Again Bella, EdwardsEyes. (P.S., if I've missed anyone, please let me know and I'll add you name in! Apologies again to Ghosts in the Snow for having this happen to her!)

Special Mentions:

EVERYONE: The reason why Edward didn't write back is in this chapter ;-D

Jennie: Oh, thankyou! I actually want to become an author one day; it's good to know that someone else think's it's a good idea!

joellen818: Nah you didn't sound pushy! And I get aggitated sometimes and accidentally take it out on people who don't deserve it, so don't worry about it lol. Nope, unfortunately Carlisle won't be seen again in the story.

Bit-By-Edward: Hahaha, those stories you left in your review about your gym class mishaps are awesome! Totally Bella-worthy. Lol.

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Kidnapped**

* * *

"Bella?"

I was still in bed, the covers pulled all the way up. I didn't want the light to hurt my nocturnal eyes so I didn't sit up to see what Charlie was calling me for.

"What?" I called back, my words muffled by the doona.

I heard the door sliding across the carpet and realised that he was coming into my room. I instantly sat up, throwing the covers back and hurriedly shoving the haystack of hair from my face.

"What's wrong?" I asked, panicked.

Charlie smiled at my needless worry and slid through the gap in the door. I saw he had something in his hand. It was silver and shiny and the screen light was lit up. Charlie held it out to me, and I took it from him, baffled.

"It's Alice."

"What? Why? Is something wrong? Why is she calling me so early?" I looked at the phone, then back to Charlie. I knew Alice could hear me but I didn't really care.

Charlie laughed. "I don't know what she wants. And it's not that early, it's eight o'clock. You should be out of bed and taking over the world by now!" He chuckled at his own joke, then patted my leg through the doona and turned for the door. I waited until he was gone before turning my attention to the phone.

_This better be important. I was having one hell of a dream…_

"Hello?"

"Bella! You're up!" She sounded extremely loud and excited. It was too early for excitement.

"Whoa, use your indoor voice Alice, it's only eight." I rubbed my eyes with my free hand and crossed my legs under the covers so I could sit up.

She laughed. "Sorry. But I think you need waking up anyway, I'm going to be there to pick you up at nine – or prepare to be dragged out the door in your pyjamas!"

I moaned and flopped back down under my covers. "Please be kidding."

"No such luck. Get up."

"Why?" I whined, rolling on my side to see the clock by my bed. 8:04am. _Wonderful._

I heard some rustling around Alice's end of the line. "Well," she said, and I could tell she was moving something by the strain in her voice, "we're going for a little drive. I think you'll like it. And I also think you should hurry up and get dressed because I'm going to be there in exactly fifty-five minutes."

"Alice! I'm not in the mood!"

"Oh, I know. But I'm going to fix that."

_She's so annoying when she gets an idea in her head._

"Fine," I said, throwing my warm covers off my body. "This had better be worth missing out on a sleep-in and a very good dream."

"Dream?"

_Damn it._

"Never mind."

She paused for a moment before replying, and I knew she was trying to figure out what my dream had been about.

"Whatever," she said after a few beats. "See you soon! Oh, and wear warm clothes."

"Fine. Bye," I said, and I hung up the piece of technology before I could say something I might regret.

_Stupid, overly enthusiastic, boyfriend-owning pixie._

I yawned widely then stretched when I stood up. I headed off to the bathroom first; thinking about how nice a warm shower was going to feel.

When I got out, Charlie called me from the foot of the stairs as I was crossing the carpet to get to my room. I felt very glad that I'd taken my dressing gown in with me.

"Yeah?" I called back, halting movement across the hall.

"I'm going over to see Billy. I'll be back tonight, but not too late I think. I'll have dinner with them." He paused for a moment. "Do you want to come with me? I'm not in a hurry."

As tempting as it was to leave Alice's plan for dead, I knew she would hunt me down.

"Thanks Dad, but I'm being kidnapped by Alice today. I reckon I'll be home around the same time as you."

"Okay. I'm going now, so you kids have fun together!"

I laughed, hoping that what Alice defined as 'fun' was _not_ on the list of things for us to do today. "Thanks Dad. See you tonight." I heard Charlie rustling his jacket for a moment, then the front door opened and closed and he was gone. I didn't hear the cruiser leave but when I looked from my bedroom window after I'd pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, it was gone.

All too soon, my little clock told me that I had seventeen minutes of solitude left. I sighed and grabbed my jacket and purse, then headed down the stairs to the kitchen. I slowly chewed through my toast, thinking about what Alice could possibly want to do with me on a Saturday morning. True, she was a maniac about shopping – but if she wanted me for shopping, she wouldn't have called me. She'd have been the one interrupting my dreams, not Charlie.

And the dream _had_ been wonderful. Of the snippets I remembered, one in particular stood out.

I was back at the Masquerade Ball, fleeing from Edward. But this time I'd chosen option one. I stopped running, and he had almost run into me.

I was crying again, my makeup running down my face. I wanted to pull my mask back over my eyes but my hands refused to listen to my head.

"Bella," he said, and he sounded apologetic. "I'm sorry."

I spluttered, thinking of how silly it was that _he_ was the one apologising to _me_.

"No," I protested, looking up at him.

Just at that moment, the moon appeared from a cloud behind me and illuminated Edward's face. He looked so painfully perfect that I had to reach out to touch him. His strong face looked like it was made from stone, or marble, and I wanted to know if it really was.

When I touched his cheek, the light faded away, the moon being swallowed back by the clouds. But he felt warm, and real. His eyes closed and he raised a hand to his face, catching my hand between his cheek and palm.

I smiled, foolishly thinking that everything was going to be alright. But then Edward's head jerked up, and he looked at something behind me. Before I could start to turn around, I was swept up and being carried in his strong arms while he ran. There was something chasing us, I realised. And I could see its overbearing shadow ahead.

It was a butterfly. Its wings were so loud that I couldn't hear anything, not Edward's voice, not my screams, nothing. My ears were full of cotton wool. Then it was getting closer every moment, until suddenly Edward was gone, and I was falling… falling…

Then Charlie woke me up. I knew that I had been about to die, but I didn't care, because for the first time in my relationship with Edward, I hadn't been the one to stuff it up. And he'd carried me. He could have just left me, but he didn't. He'd carried me.

Suddenly there was a loud honking outside the house from a car horn. Alice was here. I jumped and saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror do the same. Somehow during my reverie I'd finished my breakfast and gotten upstairs to brush my teeth – or had I? I ran my tongue over my teeth. My breath tasted like peppermint. I _had_ brushed my teeth.

Alice was waiting for me when I came out of the house. I noticed as I was turning to lock the door that she wasn't driving her Porsche for once. It was a green four-wheeled drive – something I thought would look more at home in the army. It was called a, um, Hummer, I thought. A Hummer? Yes, that sounded right.

I walked down the path to the car and jumped in the passenger side. Alice smiled at me when I got in.

"You got up!" she said, clapping her hands together.

"Yes," I said, frowning at her. "I know you would have gotten me up if I hadn't done it myself."

She grinned, looking like a crazy person. "True. Guess what?"

"Your parents bought you another car?" I suggested, looking around inside the monstrous vehicle.

"Nope. This is Emmett's. Guess again."

Of course, Emmett's. This looked like a car that would suit Emmett perfectly. I cast around for ideas as to what her surprise was.

"Where's your Porsche?"

"Rosalie wanted to take it out for a spin today." She looked at me impatiently. "Stop avoiding the subject! Guess, guess!"

"You're taking me out to lunch?" I wondered, thinking of a restaurant in Port Angeles she loved.

"Nope. I got you a surprise!" She squealed with delight and clapped her hands together like a hummingbird's wings.

I smiled at her craziness, I couldn't help it.

"Okay…?" I said, wondering what kind of clothing I was going to be shoved into today. "What is it?"

"I'll show you," she said, with a mischievous grin on her face.

I opened my mouth to protest – I hated surprises and she knew it – but she was out the door in a flash. I saw her running around to the back of the car in her rear-vision mirror, but turned away once the trunk had been opened.

I leaned my head on the headrest and closed my eyes. A minute later I heard the back of the car slam shut, but instead of looking around for the surprise I squeezed my eyes tighter together.

"I hate surprises you know," I said, bring a hand to my forehead and kneading it with my palm.

"I know," said a voice, but it wasn't Alice's.

My eyes flew open like shutters. "What are you doing here?!"

He shrugged. "It was my idea, so don't blame Alice. She just brought me."

Then something in my head clicked. "You were in the trunk?!"

Edward laughed… and despite my shock, anger, irritation, embarrassment and a whole host of other emotions, his laugh was still at the top of my 'Favourite Sounds' list.

He reached for the keys and turned on the ignition. My eyes narrowed in irritation at his casual approach to the situation, and I mumbled something under my breath.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

He turned with his whole body, giving me his full attention. "What did you say, Bella?"

I sighed, knowing he wasn't going to give up. "I said, 'Your hands obviously aren't the reason you didn't write'."

He looked stunned; completely innocent. Too innocent. I would have fallen for it but knowing Alice gave me exceptionally good senses to detect when someone was covering up their real emotions.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, Edward." I looked at him unblinkingly. "Why didn't you write me?"

"Oh. That." He fiddled with the collar of his shirt with one hand. "Well; don't blame them – but Leah and Alice told me to leave you be for a while. I knew I should write but I worried that it wouldn't come out the way I wanted it to. And I wanted to see your face after what happened on Saturday, anyway."

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to control my tone as I responded. "Does that mean you're going to apologise?"

"It means that I owe you an apology, but I want to do it properly. So you're going to have to wait a little while."

I sighed, and waited for him to continue, but he didn't. It seemed that he wasn't going to give me any more information.

"What's going on?" I looked at him suddenly when put the car into gear. "Where's Alice? Where are we going?"

Edward just chuckled, and I felt my heart trying to jump forward to get to him again. "Alice is fine."

I put my hand on the doorhandle, weighing up my chances of getting back into Charlie's house before he could catch me.

"I'll just drag you back," he said, guessing my plan.

I huffed, and reluctantly reached back to put my seatbelt on. "Where are we going?"

He looked over at me as he pulled away from the curb. "If I told you that, it would spoil the surprise."

* * *

**OOOOHHH!! Exciting!**

**Well, you guys know the drill... review? Pretty please?**

**And remember, the next chapter is the last. I know, it makes me sad to have it all come to an end too.**

**But you all still love me, right? :-D**

**-Shaps**


	28. The End

**Wow, this is the end. Crazy stuff, huh? I'm so glad you all stuck with me to the end - and even if you didn't, thanks for reading even a sentence of this story! Special thanks go to those fabulous people that added my story to their C2; and especially to my reviewers. You guys make it all worth while!**

**And the reviewers are (for the last time):**

**Esme's Favorite, twilightaddict26, StarryNightT, jake.n.ash.n.edward, MelissaTheTwilightFan, Jennie, .wish.i.was.a.cullen., BlackBells, OfficiallyDazzled, HarvestEclipse31, Ghosts in the Snow, margaritama, laibballfan, jennifier potter, sweet333249, xx Phyre xx, manyafandom, AlwaysAround888, sassydolphin007, GinnyBrown is here and now, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, Vampires-Rock4eva, bedwardforever, Music ADD, LookAfterMyHeart, AtReYu-FrEaK, edwardsfavoriteflavour, secretlycullen1212, emm.ee.cee, Bellefire253, Fall Down Again Bella, Luckybugg, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, Bethany Knight, 143twilighter, rocky937, jacob is the new black, yaaaay, lillitgirlx2, FrEvrNvrLasts, smile for the paparazzi, xdancefreakx, books and bojangles, Jam2MyRed-ipod, iread.don'twrite. (x5), OECD, joellen818, In The Life Of Sara's, ObsessingOverEdward, Michelle62092, booknerd14, musicormisery4105, Fanpire, robyn, Jade, neatospeedo, FearLover, THISwaayOUTofLIMBO, TwilightTeen, x-aly-x, EdwardXBells4ever, edwardrocksmysocks, IrisOfTheRainbow, MoonsilverTwilight.**

**Special Mentions:**

**EVERYONE: Well, as for the meadow prediction... you're going to have to wait and find out ;-D**

**Esme's Favorite: Why yes, the "I'll just drag you back" bit IS from Twilight!! Fantastic observational skills :-D**

**StarryNightT: Yeah, Edward was more or less sitting in the back of the Hummer - it would have been more comfortable than the boot of Alice's Porsche! That's the reason for taking the hummer... along with the fact that Alice didn't want Edward taking her car and Bella would have recognised Edward's Volvo. And I saw The Dark Night the other day - Oh My Carlisle. It was awesome! And Heath Ledger... is brilliant. I'm so sad he's gone. Australia isn't the same nation without him.**

**jake.n.ash.n.edward: Yeah, Edward likes Bells for sure. He just makes stupid decisions sometimes!**

**xx Phyre xx: What do you mean, about chapter 20? I can't find any glitches... and I checked, it's still there... is it not showing up or something?**

**Kevin the Cornbread Slice: Hah, thankyou for your reviews! They were particularly great - because of the views you presented. And I'll miss Kev, even if he hates me, cos he had some funny stuff to say!**

**books and bojangles: True, 'pretty please' doesn't make a lot of sense. But my favourite non-making-sense phrase is 'now, then' (as used by teachers). How can something be 'now' as well as 'then'? Silly! I've been chatting to your friend, Book2romantic - I'm writing out my part of the story on Saturday. Tomorrow. Woo!! -does happy dance- The weekend's here, the weekend's here!!**

**joellen818: Yeah, Bella will re-meet the parents if there's a sequal. Of course. As for the perfume - I may include something to do with it, but at the time I just liked the name. Lol. Thanks for being so observant though!**

**ObsessingOverEdward: Aww, thanks for your sweet review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. And I loved having Alice and Jasper hate each other - it made them so much more interesting. I mean, the whole thing of Alice and Jasper just being there and immediately knowing that the other person is "The One" is so boring. Sweet, but boring once you've read it a million times!**

**robyn: Hahahahaha, your review was awesome! Loved the groping comment! I agree with you - fics where Bella and Edward have no challenges for their relationship are just too easy. I like ones that make them work! It's heaps funner to read.**

**iread.don't write.: Hahah, I didn't notice I'd written it like that! Sorry for making you almost gag your dinner, lol. Thanks for reading! And I hope to become an author, one day :-D**

**--**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: The End**

* * *

We had spent the entire day driving. And when I say 'entire' – I mean the _whole day_. We'd stopped for lunch and snacks and stuff, but other than that Edward had just mindlessly driven me all over the place. I thought it was a huge waste of finite resources, but he didn't seem to mind. Nor did he seem to mind the amount of money that I saw appear on the counter at the gas station when he refilled the car.

But soon it was getting dark, and Edward did a U-turn on a deserted road just outside Seattle. He drove back into the city and for once, he seemed to be actually heading somewhere.

"Where are we going?" I asked for the millionth time.

He actually had an answer for me now. His previous responses had been 'you'll find out' or 'somewhere' or 'be patient' or 'stop trying to open the door, you'll get hit by a car!'

But now he said, "Seattle."

"Oh, that's helpful," I said sarcastically. The biting tone that had come into my voice wasn't meant to be so harsh, but it was too late to take it back now. Besides, he deserved to hear how irritated I was.

In spite of that, he still laughed when he looked across the dark cabin at me. "Patience, Bella. Not too long to wait."

The whole ride I'd had many questions on the tip of my tongue, all of them to do with the Masquerade Ball. Why had he kissed me? Did he think it was funny to mess me up? And why did he chase after me? Why didn't he write me a letter? Why was he kidnapping me? What did he want? Did he like me _at all_ in the way I liked him? _Why, why, why?!_

I leaned to the left as Edward pulled into an empty parking lot. There weren't any other cars around but the city noises could be heard in the distance.

"What's happening?" I said, feeling very highly-strung. "Where are we now?"

"You have no patience, do you?" Edward asked, reaching behind him for something on the backseat. I was curious as to know what it was, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

He leaned forward but hid the thing in his hands. "Lean forward," he instructed.

I looked at him suspiciously, then leaned toward the windscreen slightly. Edward chuckled.

"What?"

"Lean towards _me_."

_Oh God._

"Why?"

"Just trust me. And close your eyes."

_Oh God, oh God, oh God…_

I swallowed, my throat feeling very dry. I did as he asked, and just as my eyes were closing, I saw him leaning toward me.

I felt nothing for a long second, then something was put over my eyes. A piece of cloth.

"You're blindfolding me?" I asked, feeling both relieved and terribly disappointed at the same time.

"Yep."

"Very original." I put a hand up to my face and touched the blackness covering my eyes. My head moved slightly as he pulled the knot at the back of my head together, then I heard him lean back into his seat. "Now what?"

"Stay there. I'll help you out."

I heard his door open then slam shut, and a moment later my own door was opening. I heard him breathing very close to me, but I didn't know where he was.

"I'm going to lift you out," he said, and I felt his arms slide under my knees and behind my back.

I put my arm around his shoulder as he lifted me up, then I was set on my feet. The truck door closed and I heard the beep-beep indicating that Edward had locked it. He didn't move from my side, though.

"Now, walk this way," he said gently, taking my hand to lead me. I started to move, but my foot caught on something and I was thrown forward. Edward caught me before I hit the ground. I heard him quietly laughing.

"Shut up. I can't see, you know."

"Uh huh."

We both knew that blindfolded or not, I would always find something to trip over.

He sighed, and the sound was much closer to me than I thought it would be. "Here," he offered, and I felt his arm slide around my waist. We walked like that for a minute without problems. "Better?"

It was, but my own arm was in an awkward place. "Hang on a sec," I said, then bravely raised my lead-weight arm and put it around him too. I felt immeasurably more comfortable. "Better."

We walked in silence for a while, every few minutes Edward's hold on me would tighten a little more, pulling me closer to his side. I didn't mind one little bit. My own arm was too scared to do the same, so I contented myself by just holding onto the side of his shirt with my fist bunched around the material. I was getting very cold when Edward abruptly stopped us both.

"We're here," he said happily.

I made to remove the blindfold, but Edward's impossibly warm hand stopped me.

"Not yet," he said.

I huffed, frustrated, and folded my goose-bump covered arms. Edward laughed.

I heard a door being pulled open, and I was passed by a short gush of warmth.

"Don't scream."

"What?"

Then the air left my lungs as Edward scooped me up bridal-style.

"Sorry, but there are stairs to climb now."

I chose not to reply.

We stayed silent while Edward carried me up flight after flight of stairs. His breathing never betrayed exhaustion, neither did his faultlessly strong arms. I lost count of the number of stairs when we passed two-hundred and seventy something plods of his feet. Then Edward wasn't going up any more, but was just walking along a flat path. His feet made echoing noises on the walls, so I thought we were in some kind of stadium; or a big empty room like a gym. And we were obviously pretty high up too.

"Are we there yet?" I asked again, impatient.

He laughed. He took a few more steps, then set me gently down. My legs felt a little wobbly after being supported for so long, and I had to hold onto Edward's arm to keep myself vertical.

"Yes." His feet shuffled on the ground. "I'm going to take your blindfold off, but you need to keep your eyes closed, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

I heard movement from him, then he was gently removing the piece of black material. It was harder than I'd thought to stop my eyes from opening, but I managed it.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

"NOW!" he shouted, but it wasn't to me. And just as I opened my eyes, I knew why.

Several lights overhead blazed on, dazzling me. I had to blink a few times before I looked around the huge room.

It was beautiful. There were trees and plants and ferns and hundreds of leafy green things filling the massive sanctuary. Edward and I were standing on a wooden board walk hundreds of metres up from the ground; at the height where we could see into the tallest trees' branches. The roof was lined with lights too bright to distinguish – but that was probably just because my eyes hadn't gotten used to them yet. The whole place was like a piece of the Amazonian Rainforest had been picked up and brought to Washington.

But that wasn't the greatest part, not by far. Because as I watched, thousands and thousands of butterflies stirred from their still places on the branches and slowly filled the air around us.

"Oh, wow, Edward…" I said, awed.

I walked forward along the walk, watching the beautiful creatures. One landed on the rail beside me, and I put a finger out to it. It crawled onto my hand, its wings gently folding open and closed as I watched. I watched it fly off into the air, but it was soon lost in the swarm of beautiful insects surrounding us.

"So, maybe good things _do _happen when butterflies turn up," Edward whispered in my ear. I jumped and turned around to find that he was definitely crossing the personal space line.

"Well, nothing good has happened yet, has it?" I asked him, taking a step back.

He took a step toward me, recreating the closeness. "What 'good' would you like to happen?" he asked. His voice was like melted chocolate.

_Is he _trying_ to mess me up further?!_

I stuttered, I couldn't help it. His sweet breath was very distracting. As were his honey-green eyes, which were just swirling in front of me, pulling me in…

"Kiss me," I whispered, and I realised too late that his eyes always made me speak whatever I was thinking without editing first.

But Edward didn't seem to have an issue with that, because he closed the miniscule space left between us without hesitation. He didn't behave cautiously now; his hands wound around my waist and pulled me to him. His lips caught onto mine and I responded accordingly, my hands reaching up to wind around his neck. He held me close with one arm and the other hand gently slid up my spine to tangle in my hair. I shivered, pulling myself closer to him. We stayed like that for a precious eternity, but then we both needed to breathe properly.

We each pulled back, and I hugged him tightly. His arms wrapped around me, returning the hug just as warmly and enveloping me with happiness. He rested his chin on my head and said something quietly.

"What?" I said, looking up into his eyes but not releasing my grip on him.

He looked down at me, and every aspect of his face was smiling. I grinned, feeling bubbly happiness building in my chest. I knew that for any moment I wouldn't be with him, I would miss him terribly, and I also knew that I would do anything for him.

"Bella," he said, and giddiness almost overwhelmed me.

"Yes?"

He reached into his pocket, but I couldn't tear my eyes from his face to see what it was. He held it up between us and looked a little nervous for a moment.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

I looked down at his hand. He had a dainty silver bracelet resting in his oversized palm. It was a flat piece of metal with carvings on it, and from either end there were three or four intertwined silver chains. On one side of the carved metal there was a heart glittering with what looked like diamonds. I picked it up and examined the engravings.

On one side it said 'Edward&Bella' and on the other it had a tiny little carved envelope.

I couldn't have been smiling more if I'd tried. Nothing had ever made my heart swell so much that even tears of happiness had appeared.

"Yes," I whispered. "Yes, Edward, yes!"

And I knew that I wasn't going to have to worry about being alone ever again.

* * *

**So, what did you think? Was it a good ending? Is a sequal still appropriate?**

**Thanks so much for reading guys. I have one last question for you all before we depart... Was this story worth reading? Be honest. I'm a big girl.**

**Love you all!**

**-Shaps**


	29. SEQUEL UP!

**Wow!**

Finally, incredibly, fantastically... MY PEN PAL HAS A SEQUEL.

It's called **My Returning Relative **(to keep with the alliteration theme :-D)

Here's the summary:

**My Pen Pal sequel. AU/AH/Canon pairs. Senior year at Forks begins. Bella's cousin Vanessa comes to stay, upsetting social standings, new relationships and everything in general. Where did she come from? Why does she look beaten? And why does Jacob hate her?**

Read and review! I love you all!!

-Shaps


End file.
